Trust to intervene with young offenders
Over the years, Carlo Morselli took an interest in finding ways to introduce social network analysis into various criminology intervention fields. Researchers focused on carceral environments have noted the potential of such an approach, as well as the importance for prisoners of maintaining positive ties as a way of compensating for the absence of their significant relationships. This study explores the trust networks of young offenders housed in restrained custody at the Cité-des-Prairies rehabilitation center in Montreal, with the goal of examining the potential usefulness of trust in the everyday life of the center’s units. Our argument characterizes trust over time in two of these units, focusing on three elements that help provide a better understanding of the environment. First, the bias that the presence of encompassing actors has on the density of trust ; second, network stability, which appears to limit trust biases ; and third, the apparent positive link between trust and group climate. By exploring the various ways that trust can be integrated into interventions to help such institutions achieve their goals, the results prompt a discussion that encourages these environments to implement a sociometric approach.