Position of religious interactions in the paradigm of juridical social work: an assessment attempt

Abstract

Correctional and psychocorrectional work with different categories of socially maladjusted people, especially prisoners and juveniles in specific resocialization facilities, can be performed using different approaches or models. Working with these people is extremely difficult, because in their axiological functioning, they often follow anti-values, have difficulty complying with social, moral, and legal norms, and are often characterized by demanding attitudes. In Poland, the term resocialization is commonly used to refer to working with prisoners or juvenile wards of correctional institutions. The present paper discusses in detail three paradigms of interventions towards people who have come into conflict with the law, or in general towards people who are not adapted to social functioning, that is, living by the moral, social, and legal norms that are used and generally accepted by society. These are classical resocialization, juridical social work, and social rehabilitation paradigms. In a given paradigm, certain forms of work will be preferred. Methodology of working with socially maladjusted, or resocialization methodology, involves the functions, principles, and methods of this work. Methods of correctional work (methods of resocialization) have a psychotechnical (individual, and at the same time psychological or psychotherapeutic), sociotechnical (working with a group or using interactions through a group), or culture-technical character (learning, e.g., at school, work, contact with culture as a recipient or creator). Various religious interactions should also be considered a culture-technical method. Not all inmates or wards of correctional facilities have a negative attitude toward religion or specialized (penitentiary, facility) prison ministry. Many of them see the value in religious interactions as helpful. Religious practices help them function socially, although to obtain given benefits, the inmates or wards may manipulate their religious commitment, which may turn out to be a sham commitment. The professional work of the author of the present paper has allowed him to conduct many years of observation among inmates in penitentiary units or among those placed in juvenile institutions of the justice department. The results of this observation provided a basis for placing religious interventions not in the paradigm of classical resocialization but in juridical social work.