The opinion of young people who have committed violent child-to-parent crimes on factors that enhance and limit youth empowerment

• Published in: Children and youth services review 2021-01, Vol.120, p.105756, Article 105756
• Main Authors: Trull-Oliva, Carme, Soler-Masó, Pere
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalonia; Child abuse & neglect; Child-to-parent violence; Children; Empowerment; Life history; Self esteem; Youth; Youth empowerment; Youth justice
• ISSN: 0190-7409; 1873-7765
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105756

•The experience of living in justice educational groups enhances youth empowerment.•Is valued as a life experience that generates self-awareness and maturity.•The control, imposition and prohibition limits youth empowerment.•The youth justice system must favour interaction and reciprocity with the community. This article presents the results of the life stories and answers to questionnaires of young people who have served the judicial sentence of living in an open regime educational group in Catalonia for crimes of child-to-parent violence. The analysis identifies the spaces, moments and processes that the participants considered to enhance or limit empowerment. The research concludes that this judicial sentence favours the development of empowering personal skills, such as self-esteem or responsibility. The article ends with a series of reflections on how to compensate for the limiting factors identified and, as a consequence, how to improve future socio-educational interaction.