Family Therapy: Its Role in the Prevention of Criminality

Abstract

The family imprints its members with selfhood in all cultures. Absence of family imprints can result in the development of deviant childhood behavior and loss of identity. In two black racial groups in dissimilar world areas and sampling (Kenya, Africa and Newark, N.J.), five familial determinants interfered with the development of culturally accepted family imprints and led to deviant and criminal behavior. It is suggested that if these deterrents, namely poverty, lack of family authority figures, rejection of of the individual child, absence of family cohesiveness, and loss of individual identity within the family, were altered in their development by family therapy techniques, then criminal and deviant behavior would be decreased.