Family Therapy for Juvenile Delinquents in a Reformatory, K-Institute

The number of juvenile delinquents detained by police for shoplifting, glue sniffing, and automobile and bicycle theft reached its highest level in Japan in 1980 since world war II. The incidence of delinquency has fluctuated up and down somewhat between 1981 and 1988 but has remained slightly below the 1980 peak. In 1988 the number of juvenile detainees between the ages of 14 and 18 was 187, 172. Juvenile delinquents currently undergoing training and treatment at the K-Institute in Kanagawa Prefecture will be discussed. The K-Institute for the training and correction of juvenile delinquents is a public institution which was established in 1900. It has a holding capacity for 100 male offenders. We have interviewing and treating inmates by psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological methods since 1975. The institute has recently begun to practice a form of inclusive family therapy where the parent comes and stays with the child in the institute for a short period of time. The treatment program has shown a success so that so far none of the participants have returned to the institute, while 30% of non-participants have returned to the institute.