Challenges of rehabilitating juvenile delinquents in Uganda: a case study of Kampiringisa National Rehabilitation Center and Naguru Remand Home

Abstract

The study explored the challenges of rehabilitating the juvenile delinquents in Uganda between 1997 and 2007. In Uganda, juvenile delinquency has become a threat to the urban centers and families; with major characteristics of theft, arson, drug trafficking, addiction to commit crimes which altogether have constituted a threat to the general public. By 1960s, the Government of the Republic of Uganda had realized a threat emanating from the juvenile delinquents and thus came up with the construction of rehabilitation centers among which were Naguru Remand Home and Kampiringisa National Rehabilitation Centers. Nevertheless, the challenges pertaining to juvenile delinquency continued to be felt up to 2007 when the study was carried out.

The study was carried out on Naguru Remand Home and Kampiringisa National Rehabilitation Centers and both qualitative and quantitative techniques of research were employed by the researcher. Three methods were employed during the data collection from respondents. These are; interviews of the respondents, Focused Group Discussions and observation. The information collected was organized according to chapters in order to make a meaningful presentation, conclusion and recommendations of the study. Descriptive statistics were presented in percentages after the use of Statistical Program for Social Scientific (SPSS) and Microsoft excel. The findings collected reveal that the challenges of the juvenile delinquents emanate largely from the home environment albeit other factors are held vital.

In the conclusion, the researcher calls upon adults (man and a woman) who remain careless upon juveniles after producing them to remember the happiness they have underwent before producing such young generation. It is from such conclusion that the study recommends the culture of peace not to the juveniles but much more to the families because a family is a sole intercourse of all fabrics of the social norms, taboos and laws governing the land. The study also calls upon the government to revive its activities such as carpentry which were in rehabilitation centers like Kampiringisa National Centers as an endeavor to contain forms of delinquency in the country.