Why do judges order young people to read?

What motivated you to set up a reading project for young offenders, and how does it work?

The idea for the project arose from doubts about the educational value of community service, the most commonly used educational measure for young people who have come into conflict with the law. As an alternative, the KonTEXT reading project was launched at Hochschule München in 2011, inspired by a similar reading project in Dresden. KonTEXT focuses on promoting education and providing food for thought through engagement with literature. Students discuss selected novels and other literary texts with project participants; these are read together and reflected upon in one-to-one conversations.

For example, what were the effects on young offenders and students, and how has the context changed over the course of the last 10 years?

Time and again, it became clear just how much discussing literature read together can encourage reflection on one’s own life and behaviour. The discussions also provide the participating students with valuable insights into often precarious living conditions with which they have previously had little or no contact. Over the years, the positive experiences gained from the project have led not only to further project initiatives (e.g. a library in a youth detention centre), but also to numerous organisational and methodological developments. These include the development of a project-specific management and learning platform, as well as the professionalisation of work with literature as a medium.

What is the current status of the project?

To date, through its various initiatives (primarily reading groups at the Munich Youth Detention Centre), the project has reached nearly 10,000 young people aged between 14 and 23, both inside and outside the detention centre. It has received a number of prestigious awards and has inspired the development of numerous other reading projects both within and outside Germany. This was only possible thanks to the dedication of hundreds of committed students and other supporters at the university, as well as a specially established support association.

What does the future hold for KonTEXT?

KonTEXT currently faces major challenges, as its limited resources are stretched by a significant increase in the need for support, both among participants and the students who volunteer. Nevertheless, given the positive, research-backed experience to date regarding the potential impact of literature, the plan is not to scale back the project but to expand it further: Through training programmes for professionals and other measures, the beneficial methodological approach is to be rolled out nationwide and adapted for additional social pedagogical and clinical fields of work. However, these goals cannot be achieved without strong partners from politics, business and civil society. The project team therefore welcomes offers of support at kontext@hm.edu.

Further information about the project is available on the KonTEXT website.