The renowned doctor and psychotherapist Martina Leibovici-Mühlberger is skeptical about so-called time-out projects for delinquent minors.
“Krone”: Doctor, what do you think of the fact that a problem youth from Vienna was sent to a camp on Madeira for six months and was allowed to skip two court processes?Psychotherapist Prof. Dr. Leibovici-Mühlberger: Unfortunately, I cannot judge how efficient or effective such time-out measures (and there are some of them) actually are. And this is my main criticism. There is not a single published sustainability study in this regard. I would be interested to know: If I put young people with severe behavioral problems, some of whom have undergone psychiatric treatment, into such a project – what is the output? How many are not further conspicuous afterwards, do not become delinquent again or are willing to study? In other words, how many are actually being resocialized? Or are these all just very expensive bridging measures? To what extent a bridging? I have heard from social workers that these measures are often only to be used as a temporary bridging measure – until the people are of legal age and the youth authorities are no longer responsible. Many care facilities are now completely overwhelmed with the young people. So they are skeptical. I don’t want to attack the initiatives as such – but I want to see on the basis of scientific studies whether this cuddly pedagogy actually has a long-term effect. After all, this costs us taxpayers a lot of money. And there are other approaches – such as boot camps, for example. Where tight structures and order are specified and young people try to restructure in this way. Please don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying this or that is the better way. But you could at least compare the different approaches. Are there such “boot camps” in this country? Of course not – we build on cuddly pedagogy. Under the motto: Better to be petted than to be rubbed open. It goes without saying that young people should be treated as equals and treated with respect. But in these special cases we are dealing with 14, 15, 16-year-olds who mostly grew up without these values, who have often adopted a language of violence themselves – and who may even interpret the loving, cuddly pedagogy as a weakness.
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