Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Where Now for Youth Justice?

Smith, R.

Where Now for Youth Justice? Thumbnail


Authors



Abstract

This article reviews the current state of play in youth justice, taking particular note of the rhetoric and initial reform proposals of the incoming coalition government. The recent history of youth justice and the nature of previous debates in this area of practice are considered, in order to 'set the scene'. In reflecting on past experience, it is suggested that there have been certain predictable patterns to policy debates, and that these have essentially been constrained within a fairly limited ideological framework, reflecting conventional narratives of progress and failure. The question of whether policy and practice in youth justice is best represented in terms of 'continuity' or 'rupture' is considered, and it is concluded that in the recent past, at least, there has been a tendency to overstate the degree of disagreement between policy positions between governments of different political persuasions, in order to justify reforms which have, in fact, been of relatively modest proportions. At the same time, established trends towards greater liberalisation or authoritarianism appear to have operated more or less independently of the policy process. This pattern is likely to be reproduced under the incoming 2010 government's proposed reforms, given their reliance on well-established rhetorical arguments, and their lack of engagement with fundamental processes of social division and 'othering'.

Citation

Smith, R. (2011). Where Now for Youth Justice?. British Journal of Community Justice, 9(1/2), 69-80

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2011
Deposit Date Jun 21, 2012
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal British Journal of Community Justice
Print ISSN 1475-0279
Publisher Policy Evaulation & Research Unit
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 9
Issue 1/2
Pages 69-80
Keywords Othering, Welfarism, Continuity, Rhetoric, Surface and depth, Hegemony.
Publisher URL http://www.cjp.org.uk/publications/bjcj/volume-9-issue-1-2/

Files




You might also like



Downloadable Citations