The Role of the Family in the Education of Children in Conflict with the Law: Empirical Evidence from Albanian Context

Abstract

A child is considered in conflict with the law when he/she has committed or has been accused of committing an offence (UNICEF, 2006). According to local context, a child can also be in conflict with the law, when it is taken up by the justice system for minors or for adults, due to the alleged dangers faced by the child in view, or behavior or environment (IDE, 2016:2). The family is a primary agency that influences the child socio-psychological formation. In the case of children in conflict with the law, on one hand family can contribute on creating causes of antisocial and deviant behaviors of children, but on the other hand, it can be an important factor for rehabilitation and correction of the children attitudes.Recently, in Albania, children in conflict with the law have been in center of the attention of policymakers and researchers, but very few of them have explored in depth the role that the family plays on the education of children in contact with the law. This paper aims to fulfill that gap of researches in Albanian context.The methods used to gather data are based on: (a) the use of the secondary data such as international and national literature about the topic, researches with the focus on children in conflict with the law, statistics and other data from different Albanian institutions; (b) the use of the primary data taken from the interviews with experts who work in Probation Service in Albania, school psychologist, experts and professionals in prisons etc. The study revealed that the role of the family is crucial, especially for the children in conflict with the law. Empirical evidence from Albanian context shows that children in conflict with the law came mainly from families with socio - economical problems and/or lack of the attention to the education of the children. The collaboration of the family with other socialization agencies such as schools etc., can be an effective way for the correction of the attitudes of this category of children.