Victimization of Juveniles in Out-of-Home Placement: Juvenile Correctional Facilities

The purpose of this study was to draw a picture of the violence and abuse experienced by youngsters in juvenile correctional facilities in Israel. Residents of three types of correctional facilities (closed, diagnostic and hostels) for girls and boys indicated whether or not they had personal experiences of eight types of victimization by peers and four types of victimization by staff. The findings showed that all the investigated types of violence and abuse were present in all three types of correctional facilities, though 'lowlevel' acts of violence were more prevalent than 'severe' violence. At the same time, the findings also pointed to a different picture of violence and abuse in each type of facility and for each gender. The findings highlighted the problem of violence and abuse by peers and staff in correctional facilities for juveniles. At the same time, the differential pictures obtained suggested that intervention programmes must have both a general component and a component tailored to the facilities in which they are carried out.