Dysfunctionality of the family environment as one of the reason for recidivism

Abstract

The family as a basic social cell, the first human life environment, plays a fundamental role in securing needs, transferring social patterns and protecting its members. Taking into account the different family models that exist in the modern world, apart from traditional and reconstructed families, we also distinguish dysfunctional families, which does not immediately mean that they are pathological ones. Properly populating parental functions is one of the most important tasks of the family. It is a family that creates educational, caring and socializing environment for a child, where the characteristics of its personality and identity are evolving, as well as social norms are assimilated and associated with adequate sanctions. Family type and model can have a significant impact on the emergence of criminal behavior in adulthood. The author’s studies in the years 2007–2011 show that family relationships are the most significant factor in the biographies of prisoners. Besides, it has been shown that to start criminal activities and subsequent returns to such activities, they correlate with educational problems and numerous addictions in the family (from alcohol, drugs, psychoactive substances, gambling, etc.). The dysfunctions that arise as a result of the socialization process and the building of daily relationships can be linked to the entry into the criminal way of a young man, and thus foster a return to negative habits and recidivism in the future. The article aims to show the relationship between the being brought up in the dysfunctional family and the entrance to a criminal path, which may also be regarded as one of the causes of later recidivism of individuals.