Masuku, Kwanele2019-11-212019-11-212019Masuku, KwaneleKwanele Baxolile Nomagatsha (2019) 'Credible' child perpetrators:a critical discourse analysis of South African juvenile murderers, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/28519>https://hdl.handle.net/10539/28519This research report is submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the degree of Masters in Arts in Psychology, 2019Constructions of violence constrain women and children to victims and men to perpetrators, and imply that children are, at all times pure, innocent and, vulnerable. As such, child perpetrated crimes contradict these normative constructions, thus rendering child perpetrators inconceivable. The aim of this research was thus to identify resistance discourse that oppose these normative constructions of violence. This was achieved by interviewing incarcerated juvenile-offenders from juvenile correctional centres in South Africa. After the interviews were transcribed, the transcripts were subjected to Parker’s (1992, 2004) critical discourse analysis. The findings illustrate how normative constructions of childhood and violence render child perpetrators inconceivable. Additionally, the analysis surfaced resistance discourse which challenge normative constructions of childhood and violence, and provide counter-knowledge on violence and crime within South Africa.Online resource (101 leaves)enChild abuse--South AfricaViolence--Cross-cultural studiesSDG-5: Gender equalityThesis