Level of Self-Concept, Sense of Community, Social Support and Social Integration among Young Offenders in Malaysia

Stigma is a process that befalls when several crucial elements such as stereotyping, labeling, status loss, separation and discrimination co-occur together in a stressful situation which causes negative impacts on young offender's interactions with the community members. Therefore young offenders are required to acquire a higher level of self-concept, sense of community, social support and social integration in order to adapt themselves in a community to avoid social isolation due to their criminal history. Thus, this article discusses the level of self-concept, sense of community, social support and social integration among young offenders in Malaysia. Data is collected using a quantitative approach based on cross-section survey design among 306 young offenders undergoing Community Service Order (CSO) initiated by the Social Welfare Department. The resultant data were analysed descriptively using IMB for SPSS version 23.0. The result indicates that the majority of young offenders demonstrated a moderate level of self-concept (72.9%), sense of community (55.2%), social support (77.5%) and social integration (67.3%). As an overall impact, the study provided implications to the concerned parties to formulate and contrive the module and rehabilitation programme in order to improvise the level of self-concept, sense of community, social support and social integration among young offenders in Malaysia.