TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Social work contribution to desistance among at-risk youth
JO  - International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
A1  - Cheung, Chau-kiu
A1  - Li, Jessica Chi-Mei
A1  - Lee, Tak-Yan
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - Desistance as a process to forgo delinquent habits is an important target for intervention into youth at risk of delinquency. The intervention through social work services, nevertheless, has not clearly demonstrated its effectiveness. For such a demonstration, the present study examines the contribution of social work services with reference to the voluntaristic theory of action. The theory suggests that promoting the youth's voluntarism underlying desistance, encompassing appreciation, facilitation, observation, and identification concerning desistance is essential. The suggestion leads to the hypothesis that social work services promote the youth's desistance through the promotion of voluntarism for desistance. This hypothesis gets support from this study of 586 at-risk youths in Hong Kong, with data collected from both the youths and their responsible social workers. The support implies the value of social work services for sustaining the youth's desistance.<br><br>© The Author(s) 2016.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0306-624X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16672865
ID  - ref1
ER  -