The perceptions and experiences of youth who have completed the diversion programme

M.A. (Social Work)Abstract: One of the disturbing realities about the South African context is the high number of children living in one of the most unequal societies in the world. Inequality is considered to contribute largely to children participating in criminal activities (Amtaika, 2010). Inequality and its ever accompanying limb of poverty are not the only contributing factors to children who are found to be in conflict with the law. Other factors include exposure to crime in the family and community as well as lack of adequate modelling to learning between right and wrong. These are just a few of the underlying reasons. The South African government has made great efforts in developing the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 (CJA) after years of having the justice system respond to the child offender from the same body of law as they did for adult offenders. The Act has been promulgated in 2010. The research explored the perspectives and experiences of young people who have been through a diversion programme. Among the objectives of the research was to describe their experiences of the implementation of the diversion programme as well as what difference the diversion programme has made in the lives of the young people as far as their involvement in crime was concerned. The data was collected through the use of ten individual interviews as well as two focus group discussions. Semi-structured interview schedules were used. The data was analysed through selecting themes in the content. The research found that in the Greater Nigel region great lengths are gone to in ensuring that the programme was accessible for all children who were in conflict with the law. The programme was implemented in different forms such as groups, camps, prison tours and individual sessions. The findings show that the participants of the diversion programme were to a large extent influenced by the processes involved, the content presented and interactions that they were exposed to during their involvement in the diversion programme. The diversion programme had a direct influence on their behaviour both during and after completion of their participation. Their exposure to the programme leads to a greater respect towards the law and therefore no further participation in anti-social behaviour. Through the personal narratives of the participants this study has been able to make recommendations towards the diversion programme that would assist in meeting the needs of the children in their efforts to reform behaviour