Corporal/physical punishment
Due to extensive literature review on the correlation between corporal/physical punishment and delinquency, the best possible site deemed to yield results was a youth detention facility that houses youthful offenders. It is the hope that this facility will not only be useful as a contact for this research study, but for later follow-ups to glean more information on this topic. 2.
The researchers will contact a facility that is willing to partake in this research and make clear that data collected will be made available to the detention center, in order to demonstrate transparency in research and to reiterate that the purpose of this study is to measure the correlation between delinquency and corporal punishment, so that this information may be used to assist those, who deal with youth. 3. The researchers will meet with the facility director and ask for a sample to be provided that includes a representatively equal amount of boys and girls ages 12-17 with a fairly represented number of whites and minorities.
Special care will be given to instruct the director not to only pick members of the inmate population that meet any other criteria than simply demographic information. For example, there should be no effort to only include the most non-violent offenders due to fear of risk. The director should be advised only to tell the inmates selected that they have been volunteered to do a research study without going into great detail. 4.
Those who agree to participate will be given a consent form that guarantees confidentiality and at that time participants will be told that they will be asked open-ended, as well as closed-ended questions that deal with aspects of their upbringing and, also, attitudes about the topic of corporal/physical punishment. The participants will be instructed to ask any questions that they may have at that time and every effort shall be made to answer them in a way that does not bias the interviews. 5.
The researchers will tape record these interviews via tape recorder and transcribe them to find correlations between levels of corporal/physical punishment in the schools and in the home with levels of aggressiveness in criminal activity. Further literature review should help to find other areas of reference to propel further investigation after the initial research on inmates is completed. 6. Extra time will be alloted for clarification and additional data from the site director if ambiguity to the findings are found and, also, for advice for direction in additional study in this area.
7. Extra time will be alloted for additional data collection of parental demographics of the subjects interviewed to see if delinquincy can be positively correlated with factors in addition to corporal/physical punishment, such as poverty, divorce, or exposure to drug use in the home. Part II. Participants: Teenagers aged 12-17 will be part of this study with equal representation of males and females. There will, also, be a concerted effort to equally include whites and minorities in this sample.
Participants will be chosen by the site director after the qualifications for the study are provided to him/her and assuredness of a lack of bias in choosing subjects is given to the researchers. A target number of 120 offenders should serve as an sufficient number to answer the research question. To ensure that research is carried out in a timely manner, the resident psychologist should be made aware of the study and be allowed to give input as to whether or not the participants may need to be debriefed after their interviews. If this is deemed necessary, working with this professional will become part of the data collection method.
Site: This site is a juvenile detention facility that houses both males and females in Ontario. 1,200 inmates are currently incarcerated there and 120 (10%) of this population will be part of the interviews. Of these 12-17 year olds that were picked on demographic factors, it is estimated that this 10% will be sufficient to answer the research question. Because this site does house more males than females, it may be neccesary to change the target number for this sample, however, interviewing 10% of the population remains the goal at this point.
Part III. What is your age? What is your ethnicity? How long have you been incarcerated at this facility? What is the total number of years or months that you are expected to serve? What crimes brought you to this facility? At what age did you first resort to crime (whether or not you were caught is not relevant)? What were your reasons for committing the crimes you are now sentenced for? What in your early life (if anything) do you believe contributed to your lifestyle? How do you feel about corporal/physical punishment?
Did your teachers employ this method in disciplining you? If so, to what degree? Did you believe this to be fair or unjustified? Did this change your attitude about school? How else (if any) did this affect your ideas about yourself and your teachers or principals? Did your parents discipline you with physical punishment? If your parents did employ this method what types of acts were subject to this type of punishment? How young were you when this discipline was used? Do you consider your punishment to be slight? moderate? severe?
Did this affect your feelings about yourself or your parents? If so how? How do you feel about your parents now? Do they express regret at any aspects of your upbringing? Did they employ other methods of discipline besides physical punishment? Do you believe that your discipline was warranted? Would you advise other parents or teachers to employ this method of discipline? Why or why not? Do you have any advice as to the best way to parent young children and teens? What has brought you to this conclusion? What is the best type of discipline that you have received?
Why do you consider this the best? Do you think that as a result of your punishments that your life has been negatively changed? Why? Do you believe that you would have resorted to crime if you were not exposed to corporal/physical punishment? What other kinds of concerns do you have about your upbringing or your education? Do you have anything else to add to this interview? If so please feel free to elaborate on any of the above topics or introduce any new ideas that you think are important into the discussion at this time.
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