Date of Conferral
2021
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Criminal Justice
Advisor
Mark Stallo
Abstract
The juvenile justice policy in Ghana seems to conflict with current administrative practices. As such it appears impossible to achieve the aim of rehabilitating juvenile delinquents. While there is literature documenting this conflict, little has been documented on approaching the issue from the perspective of the administrators of juvenile justice. The research purpose was to bridge this gap in literature by exploring and understanding what could improve the implementation processes of policies pertaining to juveniles in conflict with the law. The theoretical framework for this study was the advocacy coalition framework. The research questions focused on how juvenile justice administrators from competing agencies collaborate and communicate in the implementation of juvenile justice policies and how effective this collaboration is in their common goal to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents. A case study design was employed, using purposive semistructured interviews with four participants. Data were analyzed employing phenomenological reduction, organization of codes and themes, and systematic comparison. Results indicated that the perception of misalignment between juvenile justice policies and its implementation is not as much an issue of miscommunication as it is a lack of resources. The juvenile justice administration is under the auspices of an agency that has its own primary goals and therefore must compete for funds and resources. The implications for positive social change include the creation of a juvenile justice system as an agency unto itself, with resources that make rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents a possibility and to reduce recidivism and juvenile delinquency in Ghana.
Recommended Citation
Asamoah, Juliana MameEfua, "Juvenile Justice Administration in Ghana" (2021). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 9915.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/9915
