Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge

The Youth Empowerment Scheme is intended to minimise exposure to the criminal justice system and the concomitant negative consequences of being labeled a delinquent. It also strives to encourage young offenders to accept responsibility for their actions and to behave within the broadly accepted societal norms in order to prevent further involvement in criminal activities (NICRO News n.d.; Van der Sandt & Wessels 1993:18).

Family status of diverted juvenile offenders

The concept family refers to any group of people related by blood or marriage, especially to grown-ups and their children (Mqadi 1995:25). It is a social unit, says Good (1982:8), made up of a father, mother and their children (the so-called nuclear family). The idea of family varies according to culture and social organisation of a particular society. The traditional African society defines its own family as one that consists of more than a father, mother and their children. Great parents, grandparents, parents, uncles and their wives, aunts and their husbands, cousins and nephews, constitute what is known as an ‘extended family’ (Mqadi 1995:25). Mqadi (1995:28) contends that the concept family is also affected by the ‘structure’ and ‘composition’ of the family. The following two types of family structures, with negative connotations, are distinguished:

Broken family. A family may be ‘broken’ either physically or psychologically. Physically broken families may experience the loss of either of the two biological parents through death, divorce, desertion or long absence of either parent as a result of employment or imprisonment. Psychologically, a broken family is one in which parents physically stay together, but the relationships, parental control and obligations are in constant conflict. Siegel and Senna (1988:244) contends that ‘…a broken home is a strong determinant of a child’s law-violating behavior.’
Incomplete family closely relates to a broken home and is characterised by a missing parent because of marriage that never took place. In contemporary society, the single parent (mother) usually controls and manages the family (illegitimate children). Single-parent households have become a common feature. The traditional view of the male being the breadwinner and the female the child-rearing parent is also slowly diminishing (Siegel & Senna 1988:244).
Statistical information about the family status of juvenile offenders diverted to NICRO, Durban shows that only 89 (32.4%) come from complete families, i.e. where both biological parents are still alive and live with the juvenile offenders at the time of the commission of their criminal violations. However, in 176 (64.0%) of the cases, juvenile offenders are from broken homes, while only 2 (0.7%) come from incomplete families.