This work of study and research is dedicated to the management of violence in the institutions of placement of the « Judicial Protection of Youth » (J.P.Y). The different professionals in charge of implementing public action towards young people in great difficulty face the different problems that these adolescents may encounter : risky behaviors, behavioral disorders, delinquency, impossible professional insertion, mistreatment, psychological suffering. Today, many J.P.Y. placement institutions find themselves in difficulty in welcoming these suffering adolescents and providing them with a protective, structuring and secure space. For several years now, the professional have noted a major “crisis” within the judicial placement.
Acts of violence are an integral part of the J.P.Y. facilities’ life welcoming these adolescents. Because of their impact on professionals and on adolescents, the issue of violence management within placement institutions seems to be a major subject to conceptualize. Predicting the occurrence of such events, rethinking the necessary institutional skills, positioning, attitudes and tools would contribute to the implementation of an operating framework that provides basic content and security for both young people and professionals.
We were able to note that a majority of what was in the range of acting, in the institution was sometimes denied, not recognized, and did not bring any clear answer. According to the problems of the young people in the institution, it seems necessary that the various actions taken by the young people have to be anticipated, integrated and analyzed by the professionals.
Through a literature review that retraces the work of various authors who have studied the phenomenon of adolescence and the passage to act, we have illustrated the different figures of violence within the institution. Our attention will focus more specifically on the verbal and physical violence of adolescents against educators. In analyzing this violence, we will try to show that when the institution is challenged in its various functions of tolerance, protection, and no longer able to be content, for the professionals and for the young people, then a form of institutional violence will occur that will generate more violence among the young people. In general, we will seek to understand whys and wherefores that can account for the difficulties encountered by the institution in managing these situations of violence.
This research is being carried out in an Educational Unit of Collective Housing (E.U.C.H) a structure of the J.P.Y The participants in this study are, on the one hand, adolescents placed in the E.U.C.H following criminal acts and, on the other hand, any professional working in this type of housing. The testimonies of the professionals will be collected from a semi-directive interview. It will be proposed to them to evoke a situation of verbal and physical violence and to exchange around it, in order to take into account their subjective experience. Based on their discourse, we will try to understand how they perceive violence, what they think about it, what description they make of their action, their reflections on the actions of adolescents and institutional responses.
The professionals were able to discuss what would allow the institution to ensure its function of containment with adolescents and educators. Some of them expressed the importance of analyzing and giving collective feedback on the experience of violent situations, in order to better understand the mechanisms at work in the process of taking action; to collectively define the practices to be implemented with young people; to define the different modalities of response and educational positioning. The institution would ensure, through the systematic implementation of these times of analysis, its function of containing overflowing emotions, as a support for the educator in difficulty. From then on, the collective reflection would make it possible to adapt the responses and the treatment of the violent acts in relation to the psychological reality of the adolescent, his situation and the meaning of his acting out. In the results section, the importance of the institutional framework being conceptualized by all the professionals of the institution was also highlighted, so that it is respected and shared by all.
Thus, the management of violence is based on the containing function of the institution, which will strengthen the quality of the relationship and the educational action carried out with the adolescents and will make the educators feel safe to intervene in a framework in which they feel sufficient.
- Implementing: mettre en oeuvre
- Seems to be : semble être
- Framework : cadre
- Wherefore : c’est pourquoi
- Testimonie : témoignage
- Ensure : assurer
- Overflowing : débordant
- From then on : a partir de ce moment