This topical, accessibly written book moves beyond established critiques to outline a model of positive youth justice: Children First, Offenders Second. Already in use in Wales, the proposed model promotes child-friendly, diversionary, inclusive, engaging, promotional practice and legitimate partnership between children and adults which can serve as a blueprint for other local authorities and countries. Setting out a progressive, positive and principled model of youth justice, the book will appeal to academics, students, practitioners and policy makers seeking to improve working practices and outcomes and will make an important contribution to the debate on youth justice policy.
Introduction The very existence of the term ‘youth justice’ suggests an acknowledgement by the criminal justice system (CJS) that a different response is required when children are arrested for a criminal offence. Since 1998, in the UK the Youth Justice Board has provided guidance for agencies which support young people known to the CJS. Their vision is ‘for a youth justice system that sees children as children, treats them fairly and helps them to build on their strengths so they can make a constructive contribution to society. This will prevent offending
This report presents the findings from the first national, representative survey of public attitudes to youth crime and youth justice in England and Wales.
Significantly, it highlights that most people are demonstrably ill-informed about youth crime and youth justice issues. It also carries clear policy implications in relation to both public education and reform of the youth justice system.
Youth crime and youth justice is essential reading for academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, criminology, social policy, social work and probation.
Researching Criminal Justice series
Crime and justice are issues of central political and public concern in contemporary Britain. This exciting new series presents top quality research findings in the field. It will contribute significantly to policy and practice debates and aims to improve the knowledge base considerably. The series will be essential reading for politicians and policy makers, academics, researchers and practitioners.
For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.
19 3 The youth justice system The next section of the module was intended to assess what people knew of youth justice, how they thought it should work, and how well they thought it actually operated. To start with, the sample was divided into two: half were asked about the best way of reducing youth crime, and half about reducing adult offending. Respondents were asked to consider a number of different crime reduction strategies1, and to select the one that represented ‘the best way to reduce crime’. Previous surveys that have addressed this issue have
99 SIX Youth justice practice with girls Becky Shepherd Introduction This chapter engages with the recommendations from the Corston Report (Corston, 2007) to explore key issues in relation to youth justice practice with girls. It engages with the academic literature and research findings and also draws on the author’s professional knowledge and experience in this field. This review finds many parallels between policy and practice in relation to girls and women in terms of their experiences of being dealt with in the criminal justice system. However, there
It is a key aim of current youth justice policy to introduce principles of restorative justice and involve victims in responses to crime. This is most evident in the referral order and youth offender panels established by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. However, the challenges involved in delivering a form of restorative youth justice that is sensitive to the needs of victims are considerable.
This report provides an illuminating evaluation of the manner in which one Youth Offending Service sought to integrate victims into the referral order process. The study affords in-depth insights into the experiences and views of victims and young people who attended youth offender panel meetings. It places these in the context of recent policy debates and principles of restorative justice.
The report tracks a 6 month cohort of cases in 2004; provides an analysis of in-depth interviews with victims, young offenders and their parents; highlights the challenges associated with integrating victims into restorative youth justice; offers recommendations with regard to the involvement of victims in referral orders.
This timely report will be of great value to youth justice policy-makers and practitioners, researchers and students of criminology and criminal justice, as well as all those interested in restorative interventions and the role of victims in the justice process.
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) are now one of the central features of government policy in the UK for managing the risk presented by violent and sexual offenders. Although there has been research and debate concerning the use of MAPPA with adult offenders, their application to young people has received relatively little attention until now.
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements & Youth Justice extends the existing literature on public protection. It provides a detailed exploration of MAPPA policy and practice in order to prompt further debate about the implications of the risk paradigm for young people and youth justice practitioners.
In the book, key academics, practitioners and policy makers consider a range of theoretical and practical issues raised by the introduction of MAPPA including risk and children’s rights, the use of professional discretion by practitioners, alternative approaches to risk management and suggestions for future policy development. It will be of interest to both professionals and academics working with young offenders and in youth justice.
, this chapter traces the development of Irish law and policy in the area of youth justice, from a history of institutionalized care to a more progressive, rights-based approach. The chapter begins with a brief history of the Irish youth justice system, identifying the reforms that gave rise to the contemporary legislative framework. Administrative responsibility for youth justice is outlined and the policy developments and priorities are set out. The chapter ends with some conclusions about the nature of the Irish youth justice system, highlighting the importance of
89 6 Early intervention in the youth justice sphere: a knowledge- based critique Barry Goldson When a youth commits a crime and we let him go, then the probability that he will do another crime is actually lower than if we’d punished him. (Von Liszt, 1893) [W]e have ensured that young offenders are now much more likely to be brought to justice through significant transformations to the Youth Justice System. (HM Government, 2008, para 2) Introduction: ‘risk’, prevention and early intervention In many respects, modes of intervention that ostensibly aim to
287 Critical and Radical Social Work • vol 2 • no 3 • 287–303 • © Policy Press 2014 • #CRSW Print ISSN 2049 8608 • Online ISSN 2049 8675 • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204986014X14096555906097 article Towards a ‘welfare + rights’ model in youth justice Roger Smith, roger.smith@durham.ac.uk Durham University, UK There have been a number of attempts to elaborate models and typologies of youth justice, which are, in turn, associated with particular jurisdictions and youth justice systems. While analyses of this type represent attempts to differentiate according to
