Correctional and education center in Iran: analysis of the current situation and design of the desired situation

Introduction: Children and adolescents build the future of a country. When they commit a crime based on circumstances and are kept in a correctional center, their age needs should be taken into account in order to prevent them from committing a crime again. The purpose of the current research is to identify the most important problems and challenges in the management and treatment of children and adolescents in Iran's Correctional Center Method: The research was conducted in two stages with qualitative approach and qualitative content analysis method. In the first stage, to identify the Favorable Status, international standards, guidelines and an international best model (Missouri Youth Service Center) was identified and analyzed. In the second stage, to explain the Current Status, internal related research, interviews, reports, videos and documentaries published on the web have been identified and analyzed. Findings: Categories of employees, separation and classification, environment, education, recreation and entertainment, religion, health and treatment, relationship with family and society, disciplinary cases, inspection and complaint, return to society, awareness and human dignity were identified from the qualitative content analysis of international standards and their compatibility with each other. 13 main characteristics of the Missouri Youth Center model, the beliefs and philosophy underlying the model and its approach were identified and presented. Discussion: Matching the Favorable Status with the Current Status identified the major problems in the management of Iran’s correctional centers. The results showed in addition to the problems in the management of the correctional center and treatment of adolescences, some of the problems are related to before entering the center and some after leaving the center. The most important problems in the management of the correctional center and the treatment of adolescences are presented along with the solutions to solve them.