Investigating the process of juvenile delinquency in Durban, South Africa: Insights from the Capability Approach

23 Pages·2017·0.709 MB·English

by  Van Raemdonck, Seedat-Khan

Youth Voice Journal
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Investigating the process of juvenile
delinquency in Durban, South Africa:
Insights from the Capability Approach
Laura Van Raemdonck & Mariam Seedat Khan
To cite this article: Van Raemdonck & Khan (2017): Investigating the process of juvenile

delinquency in Durban, South Africa; Insights from the Capability Approach, Youth Voice Journal
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seedat-khan-2017-investigating-the-process-of-juvenile-delinquency-in-durban-south-africa-
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Investigating the process of juvenile delinquency in Durban, South Africa Van Raemdonck & Kahn

“Investigating the process of juvenile delinquency in
Durban, South Africa: Insights from the Capability
Approach”

Published in the Youth Voice Journal, February 2017
http://youthvoicejournal.com/
© IARS 2017
Submission date: 06/03/2012
ISSN(online): 2056 – 2969

Laura Van Raemdonck & Mariam Seedat Khan

Abstract
In this study, the Capability Approach is applied as a comprehensive investigative framework
for the purpose of understanding juvenile delinquency in Durban, South Africa. The
Capability Approach measures justice by focusing on a person’s capabilities and agency
freedom. The use of a justice theory model revealed innovative insights in comparison to the
largely applied crime theories. This study adopted a qualitative research methodology. Eleven
in-depth interviews were undertaken with six ex-juvenile offenders on an integration
programme, organised by a Durban based NGO ‘YMCA’. Furthermore, five YMCA
employees were interviewed. We found that juveniles’ deprived capabilities – lack of
educational opportunities, lack of job opportunities and the absence of positive social
networks – directly influence their agency freedom to reach a life they have reason to value.
This study contends that the reason they engage in crime is motivated by their failure to
secure legal conduits to cope with deprived capabilities or legal ways to activate their agency
freedom in order to achieve an elementary life they reason to value. Consequently, the
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Investigating the process of juvenile delinquency in Durban, South Africa Van Raemdonck & Kahn
findings endorse preventive interventions that diminish inequalities and interventions that
assist ex-juvenile offenders to legally enhance their agency in order to reach a life they reason
to value.

Key Words
Capability Approach, juvenile delinquency, risk factors, juvenile justice, agency freedom

______________________________________________________________
Corresponding Authors:
Laura Van Raemdonck, is a PhD student in Social Work at the University of Antwerp and the
University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is currently pursuing her fieldwork in Durban, South Africa. Her
topic is ‘The Capability Approach in social work practice and community networks of service
organisations: Investigating the interventions of South African NGOs among vulnerable groups (e.g.
survivors of intimate partner violence, juvenile offenders, street children, refugees)’.

Mariam Seedat Khan, is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. She is a Clinical Sociologist and the Vice President of The International
Sociological Association Research Committee for Clinical Sociology. She is the editor of
‘Introduction to Sociology’, the first South African Sociology textbook by South Africans for South
African Scholars.

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1. Introduction
South Africa has a high incidence of violence, increasing annually. The murder rate per
100,000 people increased from 32.9 in 2014/15 to 33.9 in 2015/16 (SAPS, as cited in Africa
Check 2016). On average in 2015/16, a murder was recorded 51.2 times a day. The robbery
with aggravating circumstances1 rate per 100,000 people increased from 238.3 in 2014/15 to
240.9 in 2015/16. On average in 2015/16, robberies with aggravating circumstances were
recorded 363.1 times a day (SAPS, as cited in Africa Check, 2016). South Africa’s
population below the age of 15 years is 28.3%. The proportion of young persons below the
age of 25 was estimated to be 48.5% in 2014 (Statistics South Africa, 2014). The excessive
amount of young persons in South Africa makes crime and unemployment a particularly
large problem for adolescents (Clifford,1974). A cause of the high amount of young people in
South Africa is the high number of orphans (16%: maternal, 4.4%; paternal, 9.3%; double,
3.2%) primarily resultant from a national 12.2% HIV and AIDS prevalence (HSRC, 2014).
Notwithstanding the current high crime rates, South Africa has a turbulent history of
crime as resultant from apartheid (1948-1990). The transition to a post-apartheid era was and
continues to be associated with high levels of crime committed largely by the youth (Ovens,
2008).
This paper aims to explore the stages of juvenile delinquency utilising the Capability
Approach (CA) as an investigative framework. The CA is a justice or well-being framework
that examines (dis) advantage, which is judged by a person’s capability to do things he or she
reasons to value (Sen, 1992). A person’s benefit in terms of opportunities is judged in
comparison to others if she or he has fewer capabilities or less real opportunities to achieve
those things that he/she reasons to value (Sen, 2009). Alongside the possession of
capabilities, the evaluation of freedom to determine what one wants, what one values and
ultimately what one decides to choose is an important feature of (in) justice regarding the CA
(Sen, 2009). A comprehensive and altered view on juvenile delinquency in Durban, South
Africa is targeted. Disparate from other theories of justice and crime, the CA includes a
comprehensive focus on how an individual’s overall (dis) advantage can be assessed. The CA
does not only focus on the subjective and final stage of well-being ‘happiness’, nor does it
focus exclusively on peoples ‘resources’ for measuring human development (Sen, 1984). The
distinct nature of this study lies in the expansive examination of ex-juvenile offenders

1 Robbery with aggravating circumstances occurs when a person uses a gun or weapon to unlawfully and
intentionally forcefully removes property belonging to another person.

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resources, personal, social and environmental factors, capabilities and agency freedom for
crime involvement. The understanding of the underlying factors of (in) justice is vital for
social work interventions. The prevention of juvenile delinquency and the reintegration of
juvenile offenders into society is an important area for this empirical study. Although existing
scholarship acknowledge the added value of the CA in the field of juvenile delinquency, the
practical application of a justice or well-being framework in the context of juvenile
delinquency is rare (Patton, Snyder & Glassman, 2013; Shand, 2014). Notwithstanding
limited CA-research in the field of juvenile delinquency, Patton et al. (2013) undertook a
study utilising the CA among substance abusers’ risk factors to engage in sex work.
Capability oppressions of life, bodily health, bodily integrity, emotions, practical reasons, and
control over one's environment were identified as significantly associated with sex work
(Patton et al., 2013). In line with existing literature, one can conclude that children living in
deprived circumstances are more vulnerable and likely to engage in criminal activities than
those children living in economic sustainable and intact families (Maree, 2008; Breetzke,
2010). This study, however, investigates how the CA can reveal deeper insights on the
process of juvenile delinquency in relation to the juveniles’ capabilities and agency freedom.
Research on the CA and street children states that the CA is able to provide new insights for
the development of a more refined approach to supporting young people (Shand, 2014). By
using the CA, a specific need to build capabilities and assets for the future is addressed,
which contributes to the well-being children (Shand, 2014).
Fundamentally, the intention of this case study is to provide a collective voice to
young people in order to positively influence the perceptions of government and donor
agencies (Shand, 2014). Advancing ex-juvenile offender’s reintegration process and well-
being should focus on their capabilities and agency freedom rather than compulsory and
normative accounts of childhood. The key research questions examine

Q1 What are the juveniles’ resources, personal, social and environmental risk factors of
crime involvement and how does it affect their capabilities?
Q2 How do deprived capabilities affect the juveniles’ agency to pursue a dignified life?
Q3 How do deprived capabilities and agency freedom influence the juveniles’ pathway to
crime involvement?
Q4 Which interventions are recommended to cope with capability and agency deprivation?

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2. Methodology
This study utilises a qualitative research methodology, which includes eleven in-depth
interviews.
2.1. Sampling
The participants involved in the eleven in-depth interviews included five employees from the
Durban Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA); the director, national youth justice
coordinator, programme coordinator, a student intern and a volunteer. Six ex-juvenile male
offenders who were on the ‘life skills’ reintegration programme, facilitated by the YMCA,
were interviewed. All respondents were over the age of eighteen. Table 1 provides an
overview of stimulating circumstantial material on the ex-juvenile respondents. All
participants live in deprived economic situations.
Table 1: overview of ex-juvenile offender’s background information
Age Ethnicity Reoffender Gang Drugs Current home situation
1. 27 Coloured Yes No Yes Lives with mother, stepfather and son
2. 24 Black Yes Yes No Lives with mother and one sister
3. 24 Black No Yes Yes Lives with mother and two brothers
4. 26 Black Yes Yes Yes Orphan, lives with grandmother
5 25 Coloured Yes Yes Yes Orphan, lives with aunt and uncle
6. 27 Black Yes Yes Yes Orphan, lives with aunt

All in-depth interviews were conducted in the offices of the YMCA, which are located in the
Durban city centre. Informed consent forms were provided to all respondents and the
interviews were audio recorded and thereafter transcribed. Additional observation material,
such as notes during site visits and training session observations were used briefly for
interpreting the qualitative data. The data from the interviews was analysed through the use
of qualitative data software NVivo.
2.2. Research typology and analytical framework
The in-depth interviews were semi-structured with open-ended questions grouped according
to the following themes: personal, social and environmental factors ‘Can you tell me your
story: in which circumstances did you live before you ended up in prison?’ capabilities and
agency freedom ‘If you had all the opportunities, what would you like to do in life? What
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holds you back?’ and recommended interventions ‘Do you have any suggestions for
reintegration programmes?’
Grounded theory was used as an analytical framework. Grounded theory is an in-
depth methodological approach that is systematic in the development of theory. Secondary
records such as statistical records, journal articles, and dissertations were used to substantiate
and evaluate the qualitative research findings alongside existing literature and theoretical
underpinnings.
2.3. Purpose and justification of current project methodology
Limitations of this study include the study being undertaken with one NGO alongside the
relatively small group of participants makes generalisation challenging. This limitation,
however, has been partially overcome through the use of statistics in the city on the topic and
the available literature. Moreover, by utilising grounded theory as an analytical framework,
the focus to achieve deep insights rather than general surface information was achieved.
Glaser and Strauss’s (1967) Grounded theory is one of the most expansively accepted
approaches for qualitative methodologies. It is suggestive to social work research (Gilgun,
1994). By operationalising the grounded theory method, the focus on the apprehensions that
participants of the study may have, and how they might try to resolve them from their own
perspectives is effective.
3. Results

By utilising the CA, we examine the process by which a young person becomes a juvenile
delinquent. Figure 1 depicts the stages of juvenile delinquency regarding the CA. It indicates
five main components of the CA: 1) a person’s resources ‘means to achieve: economic
resources, commodities and services’; 2) personal (e.g. mental health), social (e.g. home
situation) and environmental factors (e.g. home location); 3) capabilities ‘The real
opportunities or freedoms one has to achieve a life one reasons to value’; 4) agency freedom
‘A person’s actual choice, act or role in realising any kind of aims or values that he/she
considers important’ and 5) functionings ‘A person’s beings and doings, it reflects the
consequential state of being after the decision people make upon their capabilities and
agency to achieve a life one reasons to value’ (Sen, 1984, 1985, 1992, 2003). Investigating
the narratives of six ex-juvenile offenders, we are identifying their resources, personal, social
and environmental risk factors, capabilities and agency freedom. All these concepts are
related to the functionings – beings and doings – people reason to value. This varies per
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person. ‘Being a juvenile offender that has committed certain crimes’, however, is not, in
particular, a functioning that people value. Why did they become juvenile offenders despite
the deviance associated with it?

Below we relate the described CA concepts to citations of six ex-juvenile offenders that are
currently on a ‘like skills’ reintegration programme, organised by the YMCA. Additional
citations of several YMCA employees are included. Secondary sources were used to
substantiate the findings.
3.1. Resources
All six ex-juvenile offenders lived in underprivileged situations during their involvement in
crime. They were either unemployed or had a low paying job that was insufficient in making
ends meet. In addition, their guardians failed in providing them with basic needs such as
food, clothes and a place to study. The citation below captures the need for a father to provide
his son with a small amount of money to attend school.
I have a son and at that time it was very hard for me to look after him. I worked in a car
wash; they paid me 18 rand (or 1,30 USD) per day... Even when I was still going to
high school my son knocked on my door because he also needed to go to school to ask
me R 2 rand or something… That day it was raining and I decided to do something,
which I know that it is wrong but it was to earn money, I needed money… I robbed a
couple; I took their money and their cell phone… (Ex-juvenile offender 1)
Existing literature theorises that economic deprivation is related to crime worldwide
(Breetzke, 2010). Maree (2008) argues that it is not poverty as such that contributes to crime,
but how people experience their financial situation within their social environments. The
majority of poor people do not commit a crime, but those who feel deprived will often resort
to crime. It is known that countries characterised by huge income disparities such as South
Africa have higher crime rates than countries with lower income inequalities (Maree, 2008).
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3.2. Personal, social and environmental factors
3.2.1. Personal factors
During the study, two personal factors were highlighted as key risk factors for crime
involvement among juvenile offenders. These were identified as: 1) problems with anger
management and 2) substance abuse.
3.2.1.1. Problems with anger management
By asking the ex-juvenile offenders about their favourite life skills sessions in the
reintegration programme at the ‘YMCA’, the importance of the anger management session
came to light:
When I was with YMCA, they talk about things… Just for example anger management.
I have a huge problem with anger management. I used to do several things, which, in
the end, I didn’t even realise. A lot of things came out for me; this is where I start
changing… We try to talk about those things, so my life has changed ever since I have
met them (ex-juvenile offender 2).
Existing literature identifies personality traits, such as a person’s poor ability to control their
behaviour as important factors that predict juvenile offenders’ behaviour (Maree, 2008). This
trait involves the following characteristics: impulsiveness, hyperactivity, restlessness,
clumsiness, not considering consequences before acting, a poor ability to plan ahead, short
time horizons, low self-control, sensation seeking, risk taking and a poor ability to delay
gratification. Other personality traits that are linked to criminal involvement are ones that are
associated with the antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy (Maree, 2008).
3.2.1.2. Substance Abuse
We identified that five of the six ex-juvenile offenders, which we interviewed, came in
contact with drugs. When we asked them if the abuse of substances reinforced and supported
their willingness to commit a crime, they all agreed that it did:
Sometimes drugs do reinforce committing crimes. Because when you are craving and
you don’t have anything, you don’t have any money, you still have to get it... So there
is a higher possibility to do anything wrong when you are craving, always are good to
get the drugs. And you only get the guilty consciousness afterwards, when you are
sitting alone and think of what you have done… (Ex-juvenile offender 3).
Parry et al. (2004) identified that drug-related behaviour is frequently linked to criminal
involvement and the involvement in high risk profitable criminal activities such as the illicit
drug trade. South African statistics indicate that in 2000, 77% of arrested criminals were
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burglars, 53% of them were robbers, 52% were murderers and 47% of rapists tested positive
for the use of at least one illicit drug (Louw, as cited in Maree, 2008). South Africa is a
country wherein the raw materials for illicit drugs are easily obtained. The availability dagga
(cannabis) is high (Maree, 2008). There are a series of additionally utterly appalling adverse
social, well-beings and health implications that result from drug abuse, which has been
associated with academic difficulties, declining grades, absenteeism, truancy, and increased
school drop-outs rates (Parry et al., 2004). Adolescent substance use involves an increased
risk of injury and death from interpersonal violence, motor vehicle accidents, drowning’s, an
increased probability of engaging in high-risk sexual behaviours, an increased risk for
suicidal ideation behaviour and increased co-morbid psychiatric disorders, for instance, mood
disorders (Parry et al., 2004).
3.2.2. Social Factors
During the study, three social risk factors related to juvenile delinquency were emphasised: 1)
peer pressure; 2) disrupted parental relationships and family ties and 3) stigmatisation.
3.2.2.1. Peer pressure
We identified that all ex-juvenile offenders were either in youth gangs (four out of six) and/or
involved with deviant people that provide them with drugs (five out of six). The citations
below indicate that youth gangs are related with crime and peers can influence each other to
take drugs:
I left my home for nothing, just to be in a gang. We committed crimes together, mostly
robbery (ex-juvenile offender 2).

I used to go visit the wrong people. I chilled with them, sit with them. That’s when I
started those drugs, and after that, I started committing crimes (ex-juvenile offender 3).

Finley (2007) and Maree (2008) found that juvenile delinquency occurs most frequently
within a group context and that gang membership and gang-related crimes are primarily a
youth-related problem. Finley (2007) notes that the characteristic of a gang most commonly
cited on the 1998 National Youth Gang survey was that youth ‘commit crimes together’.
Today there are nine types of gangs that constitute the broad category of ‘street gangs’: these
include hedonistic/social gangs; party gangs; instrumental gangs; predatory gangs; scavenger
gangs; serious delinquent gangs; territorial gangs; organised/corporate gangs and drug gangs.
Although there are differences between the gangs, gang members are involved in criminal
activities related to drugs (Finley, 2007). Mukwende (as cited in Breetzke, 2010) argues that
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