Comparative Juvenile Correctional Education: Toward the Transcendence of Globalized Penal Populism

This session explores future directions of juvenile correctional education by conducting an international comparison. As A. S. Neill warns, a socially oppressed self-concept can lead youth to delinquent behavior. Therefore, the redevelopment of a positive, stable self-concept of juvenile delinquents will encourage them to live autonomous lives. Despite this common knowledge, correctional facilities tend to rely on stricter norms than external society, such as military discipline, clear power dynamics between guards and inmates, and harsher racial ideology. In addition, psychologism, penal populism, control practices and toughening laws are advancing across countries. In this alienating landscape, scholars and practitioners should establish a relational, developmental theory and humanistic practice of correctional education. Some might criticize this approach and say it holds an essential contradiction because a penal facility is the most authoritarian body. However, the redevelopment of delinquent youth's self-concepts requires an implosive therapy toward their self-liberation. Progressive correctional education such as a culturally responsive approach has recently started in some countries, and this session will be an important step toward an implosive therapy of contemporary punitive society. The session covers a wide range of studies, from a philosophical discussion on correctional education, through a quantitative analysis of toughening laws, to a qualitative evaluation of the latest program in a juvenile facility. The session will also host papers discussing the trends of the implementation of the Convention of Rights of the Child, The Beijing Rules and thee efforts to implement a less Punitive juvenile Justice System.