This book-containing contributions from scholars who are well-known for their research on gangs, and selected as experts on the assigned topics-examines youth gangs from a developmental/life-course perspective, exploring a myriad of issues related to gang membership, its causes, its consequences, and various intervention efforts to both prevent gang membership and reduce the problematic impact of gangs. Beginning with research exploring the intergenerational continuity in gang membership and examining the causal processes leading to gang membership, the structure of the book reflects the developmental sequence of gang membership. The consequences of gang membership for youth are examined, as are intervention strategies. The book also presents the first conceptual framework on female gang involvement, taking into account the differences in the paths and roles that women and girls may take into the gang. The book concludes by exploring how gang membership affects job possibilities for young adults. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Crime and Justice.

The concept of moral panic has received considerable scholarly attention, but as yet little attention has been accorded to panics over children and youth. This is the first book to examine this important and controversial social issue by employing a rigorous intellectual framework to explore the cultural construction of youth, through the dissemination of moral panics. It is accessible in manner and makes use of the latest contemporary research by addressing some of the pressing recent concerns relating to children and youth, including cyber-related panics, child abuse and pornography, education and crime. A truly international collection, this volume features new global research focusing on the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and France as well as the United States. Genuinely multidisciplinary in approach, it will appeal to researchers and students across the social sciences and humanities - from sociology and social theory, to media, education, anthropology, criminology, geography and history.

This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of assessment and intervention planning with young people who offend. It will help equip practitioners with the knowledge and professional skills central to these critically important tasks in youth justice. Assessment in Youth Justice includes learning features such as review questions and case studies, plus an online resource. It covers varied theoretical and practical topics, including decision-making, use of standardized tools, report writing, and improving assessment quality. It also takes into account current UK policy developments along with a range of literature on assessment in criminal justice and social care. Assessment in Youth Justice encourages readers to think critically about their role in assessment and planning, to engage with current debates, and to take practical steps to enhance their own practice.

The Handbook of Juvenile Forensic Psychology is a comprehensive handbook for mental health professionals working with juveniles in the criminal justice system and in family and dependency courts. Written by a panel of experts in the field, the book focuses on the proactive prevention, accurate evaluation, and progressive treatment for delinquent juveniles and for juveniles caught in the web of a contentious divorce or in the foster care system.

From media images of "mean girls" to the disproportionate punishment of Black, Latina and/or queer girls in schools and the justice system, female aggression has become a public concern. Scholars, educators, policymakers and parents are scrambling to respond to the perceived upsurge in girls' bullying, peer pressure, and aggression/violence. Girls, Aggression and Intersectionality examines how intersecting social identities - such as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, and others - shape media representations of, and criminal justice reactions to, female aggression. The book focuses on three overarching questions: How do race, class, and/or sexuality influence media images of female aggression? How do aggressive girls' intersecting identities affect law enforcement and criminal justice responses to their aggression? How are diverse groups of girls trying to resist their labelling and criminalization? Using intersectionality as a conceptual framework, this insightful volume deconstructs a unitary analysis of "female aggression" and transforms the mainstream discourse that paints girls as inherently "mean." Girls, Aggression and Intersectionality will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, interested in fields including Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Youth Studies, Criminology and Media and Culture.

Closing the Integration Gap in Criminology: The Case for Criminal Thinking offers a multi -stage model of theory integration that organizes verified risk factors around the construct of criminal thinking to provide an exemplar working paradigm for criminology. In the model, once relevant risk factors have been identified, they are organized into triads -three-variable networks of antecedent, mediating, or moderating effects-and then those triads are combined into clusters of thematically related constructs. While debate continues to rage over how to handle the burgeoning number of theories in criminology, little significant progress has been made in reducing the number of criminological theories. This book argues that theoretical integration is vital to the continued viability of criminological theory and to the growth and development of criminology as a scientific discipline. It posits that criminal thinking may be useful as a core variable in constructing a useful integrated theory for criminology, and maps out a plan for scholars to organize information for further study. The innovative theoretical approach in this book is essential reading for students, academics, and researchers in both criminology and forensic psychology concerned with the reduction of crime via scientific inquiry.

This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of assessment and intervention planning with young people who offend. It will help equip practitioners with the knowledge and professional skills central to these critically important tasks in youth justice. Assessment in Youth Justice includes learning features such as review questions and case studies, plus an online resource. It covers varied theoretical and practical topics, including decision-making, use of standardized tools, report writing, and improving assessment quality. It also takes into account current UK policy developments along with a range of literature on assessment in criminal justice and social care. Assessment in Youth Justice encourages readers to think critically about their role in assessment and planning, to engage with current debates, and to take practical steps to enhance their own practice.

Restorative justice (RJ) and restorative approaches (RAs) are becoming increasingly valued as a way of responding to a wide range of conflicts, including problem and offending behaviours. The growth in the use of RJ and RAs has been described as a 'global social movement' that sets out to repair harm, reduce conflict and harmonise civil society. This report takes a close look at the implementation of an RJ approach in the challenging environment of children's residential care homes. It will appeal to people who are interested in the use of RJ, particularly its use with children and young people, as well as those interested in problem and offending behaviours in relation to children in care.

The book argues the case for the usefulness of an empirically based understanding of the internal world of juvenile sex offenders as a way of humanely relating to their difficulties. It details the extent and nature of juvenile sex offending and its impact on victims and provides an extensive psychoanalytically oriented description of this offender group. The background of these offenders is examined, focusing on their experience of abuse, especially sexual abuse. Attention is paid to the unique characteristics of these offenders, particularly their attachment difficulties. The value of attachment theory and the concepts of psychopathy and malignant narcissism are then explored as a means of viewing their internal world. This internal world is also viewed through an empirical lens, which reveals them to have impaired psychic representations of human relationship, different needs for relationship and, in the most psychopathic group, an obfuscation of that need. The implications of these findings are then considered and the application of these understandings of their internal world is then explored.

The 2008 UK government Youth Crime Action Plan emphasises prevention and early intervention in different aspects of work with young people who offend or are considered to be 'at risk' of offending. Much of this approach includes targeted work with families and work to reduce the numbers of young people entering the youth justice system. This report takes a critical look at early intervention policies. Through contributions from leading experts on youth work and criminal justice it considers the development of integrated and targeted youth support services and the implications for practice of early intervention policies; analyses the causes of serious violent crime through consideration of issues that address gangs and guns; provides an evaluation of the government's early intervention strategy through the examination of its Sure Start programme and other family initiatives; identifies the psychobiological effects of violence on children and links them to problem behaviour; considers the impacts of family intervention projects and parenting work and compares approaches to early intervention across different jurisdictions and examines the lessons for practice in England and Wales.

Originally published in 1940. This ground-breaking work formed the foundation for modern criminology becoming an academic discipline within UK sociological studies. It concerns the history of crime, its causes and treatment in England during the preceding twenty-five years or so. Mannheim, through this and later studies, went on to found the criminology department at LSE. The book offers an evaluation of the criminological implications of the War and early post-War period as well as an examination of the practical working of the new penal machinery built up by the Reform Acts passed just prior to the War. The author produced a scientific account of the post-War state of crime, beginning with a critical examination of the structure and interpretation of English Criminal Statistics followed by a survey of the principal criminological features of the period between the two Wars. Significant aspects are dealt with in a separate chapters - four devoted to problems of work and leisure (Unemployment and Strikes, Business Administration, Alcoholism, and Gambling), four others to those of certain specific sections of the population (Juvenile Delinquency, Female Delinquency and Prostitution, Recidivism). This is a fascinating read for both the historian and the criminologist.

Originally published in 1976. This study deals with crime as social history in Germany and France during the nineteenth century. It establishes the broad statistical patterns of crime over the century so that the crime phenomenon can be analysed in the light of the other main trends of economic and social life. One basic concern is the relationship between crime and economic condition. The second main issue is to establish whether specifically rural and urban patterns of crime can be isolated. The third main concern is to establish whether any relationship existed between patterns of delinquency and the social upheaval which accompanied industrialisation and urbanisation. These three main issues continue as important questions in considering modern day crime. Nineteenth century Germany and France provide an excellent context in which to examine them because of the substantial urbanisation and industrialisation which occurred between 1830 and 1914. As well as providing an important contribution to the history of nineteenth century society this book also indicates important lessons for the contemporary world.

The first decade of the new century proved to be a deadly one for many children and young people in the United States. Despite increased policing on the streets, higher rates of incarceration, harsher sentencing, stricter control of illegal drugs, and attempts to reduce access to firearms, FBI reports show that more than 7,300 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 were murdered in 2008 alone. It's clear that traditional crime reduction strategies have not stemmed the rising tide of homicides perpetrated by and upon one of society's most vulnerable populations. Innovative, practicable solutions are needed to staunch this lethal trend.

Based on the findings of a unique longitudinal study, "Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood" now provides experts with unprecedented analysis of prospectively collected data on 1,517 boys and young men who grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Following these males from childhood into early adulthood, examining their lives and the conditions under which they grew up in a representative mid-sized American city, the study forms the basis of this unique volume designed to stimulate debate on key questions of prevention and intervention as well as dispel popular myths about the childhood and adolescent features of homicide offenders and homicide victims.

Key areas of coverage include: Early childhood risk factors of young homicide offenders and victims.Insights into homicide offenders' lives as told in their own words.The effectiveness of screening for at-risk youth. Risk factor-based prevention and intervention strategies.The impact of interventions on homicide rates.Policy implications at the local, state, and national levels.

"Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood" is essential reading for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers across the fields of juvenile justice and criminology, developmental psychology, sociology, psychiatry, public health, and policy making.

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""This book changes the game in violence research ... The ""analysis is masterful, the prose is readable, and the achievement is nothing short of stunning."
"Richard Rosenfeld, Ph.D. / Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis

""This book will stand the test of time as a landmark homicide study."
"James C. Howell, Ph.D. / Senior Research Associate, National Gang Center

""This is a fascinating, pioneering book ...The authors' sophisticated analyses demonstrate convincingly the considerable value of prospective longitudinal data for enhancing our understanding of the etiology and control of lethal violence."
"Steven F. Messner, Ph.D. / Distinguished Teacher Professor, Department of Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY / President, American Society of Criminology"

Long sentenced young people are a small but significant part of the juvenile prison population. The current approach to young people convicted of serious crime speaks to wider issues in criminal and social justice, including the idealisation of (some) childhoods, processes of racialisation and identity and the sociology of the body. Analysing the relationships between biography, trauma and habitus reveals the ways in which class, racial and legal status are experienced and resisted. Young Men's Experiences of Long-Term Imprisonment: Living Life considers the need for the reinvigoration of prison ethnography and calls for a phenomenological approach to understanding youth crime and punishment. An insightful ethnographic study on imprisoned 15- to 17-year-olds in England, this volume examines how young people experience long-term imprisonment, manage their time and imagine and shape their futures. Drawing on observations, interviews and correspondence, Tynan situates long-term imprisonment of young men within the wider social context of criminal and social justice; and analyses constructs and practices that locate responsibility for crime with individuals and communities. Young Men's Experiences of Long-Term Imprisonment: Living Life will be of interest to students and researchers interested in the sociology of prisons, punishment and youth justice and qualitative research methodology.

This title was first published in 2003. Adolescence is popularly understood as a transitional phase of turbulence and extremes. It is also often associated with 'trouble'. Criminal justice statistics, however, reveal that youth criminality remains a relatively rare phenomenon, less than one percent of the total adolescent population in any given year. This exceptional book is based upon a major Australian research programme to consider the key social factors impacting upon the lives of young people. A sample of 1,300 young people was divided into three major subgroups: a 'control' group, drawn from state secondary schools and closely approximating the general population; a chronically marginalized cohort representing a 'vulnerable group', and a group of offenders, most of whom were incarcerated at the time of the research. With its rich data source and highly integrated structure, the book makes a major contribution to our understanding of adolescent criminality and associated policy both in Australia and internationally.

Diversion in youth justice is a subject of enduring interest. It concerns the processes by which decisions are made about whether or not to prosecute young offenders, and this book explores the continuing debates and historical developments which shape these processes. The treatment of young offenders is a contentious subject, and this book provides a comprehensive review of out of court decision-making in the context of wider arguments about how we should deal with the crimes of the young. This book follows a broadly historical structure, exploring the development of ideas and approaches to agency decision-making at the point of prosecution. This leads to the identification of a number of distinctive 'models' of diversion, reflecting both specific periods of time and particular philosophies of intervention with young people in trouble with the law. Based on this classification, this book explores the implications for wider debates about childhood, crime and punishment and how these relate to theories of social control. This, in turn, leads to the conclusion that diversionary ideas and practices act as a kind of barometer for wider developments in the governance of youth. This is one of the very few books that focuses exclusively on diversion as a feature of youth justice, and it provides a range of original and contemporary insights into this subject area which remains of considerable interest in this field, both academically and in practice. The ideas outlined here will contribute to new thinking in youth criminology, as the discipline responds to a prolonged period of apparent liberalisation in the treatment of young offenders which has yet to be fully understood or properly theorised.

Over the last decade, the reformed youth justice system has seen increases in the numbers of children and young people in custody, a sharp rise in indeterminate sentences and the continuing deaths of young prisoners. The largest proportion of funding in youth justice at national level is spent on providing places for children and young people remanded and sentenced to custody. The publication of the Youth Crime Action Plan during 2008 and the increasing emphasis on early intervention provides a framework to consider again the interface between local services and secure residential placements. This report brings together contributions from leading experts on young people and criminal justice to critically examine current policy and practice. There are vital questions for both policy and practice on whether the use of custody reduces re-offending or whether other forms of residential placements are more effective long-term. The report looks at current approaches to the sentencing and custody of children and young people, prevention of re-offending and a range of alternative regimes.

Educational Planning of Court-Involved Youth provides a framework for alleviating chronic barriers for youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This guide combines best-practice recommendations from national research with direct service tactics employed successfully in multiple counties. Included are the necessary components to implement a collaborative, community-centered intervention system that meets the needs of the county, family, and individual. With the understanding that each county carries its own strengths, barriers, and resources, these tools serve as a model for assessing and adapting the system to cater to the unique needs of each area in which it is implemented. This text helps facilitate the coordination and collaboration necessary to foster comprehensive systems and individualized planning for youth.

This book shows how the overall impact of the penal policy agenda of the Coalition Government 2010-2015 has not led to the intended 'rehabilitation revolution', but austerity, outsourcing and punishment, designated here as 'punitive managerialism'. The policy of austerity has led to significant budget cuts in legal aid and court services which threaten justice. It has also led to staffing reductions and overcrowding in the prison system which threaten order and have undermined more positive work with prisoners. The outsourcing of prison and community-based offender services is based on untried method with uncertain results. The shift in orientation towards punishment is regrettable because it is essentially negative. The book notes that this move to punitive managerialism is located in the broader trend towards neo-liberalism. It concludes by attempting to articulate the parameters of an affordable and emotionally satisfying yet humane and rational penal policy.>

Over the past two decades, concern about adolescent sex offenders has grown at an astonishing pace, garnering heated coverage in the media and providing fodder for television shows like Law & Order. Americans' reaction to such stories has prompted the unquestioned application to adolescents of harsh legal and clinical intervention strategies designed for serious adult offenders, with little attention being paid to the psychological maturity of the offender. Many strategies being used today to deal with juvenile sex offenders-and even to define what criteria to use in defining "juvenile sex offender"-do not have empirical support and, Frank C. DiCataldo cautions, may be doing more harm to children and society than good. The Perversion of Youth critiques the current system and its methods for treating and categorizing juveniles, and calls for a major reevaluation of how these cases should be managed in the future. Through an analysis of the history of the problem and an empirical review of the literature, including specific cases and their outcomes, DiCataldo demonstrates that current practices are based more on our collective fears and moral passions than on any supportive science or sound policy.

This book explores the journey of young people through a Secure Training Centre and, more generally, the criminal justice system in the UK. It examines the extent to which young people have been failed by the system at every stage of their lives, with incarceration used as a means of removing 'the problem' from society. To explore this process, the authors utilise an integrated theoretical framework to develop a new rehabilitative approach focused on developing positive outcomes for young people. The book deploys a social impact measurement methodology to evaluate the experience and outcomes of youth justice interventions at a Secure Training Centre. Such an approach provides a fresh perspective on the youth justice debate which has traditionally utilised outcome data to measure immediate impact relating to recidivism and is therefore not focused on the young person holistically. Using a social impact framework to evaluate youth justice, underpinned by an integrated theoretical framework, allows for assessment to be made which place the young person at the centre of evaluation.

This book explores two major social problems facing Chinese society today: increased strain in the lives of young people and heightened rates of crime and delinquency, ultimately examining the links between them. More broadly, it draws on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and Agnew's general strain theory to examine the factors and processes affecting young people, leading to life strain and delinquency. It represents the first study of this kind and involves the most systematic and comprehensive literature review of studies on major social, economic, political and cultural changes, as well as youth crime in contemporary China. Bao's arguments are supported by empirical evidence including data findings and over a decade's worth of observational research. Shedding new light on the nature of youth crime in a rapidly changing society, this methodical study will benefit policy makers and researchers, helping them to develop tactics and methods to reduce strain in the lives of young people, and thus effectively prevent delinquency in China.

This book offers an integrated training and coaching system to facilitate change in systems that serve youth (education, healthcare, and juvenile justice). The integrated training and coaching system combines brain development, cultural responsivity, and trauma-informed practices. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the neurobiology of fear, brain development, trauma, substance use, and mental health, structural bias and environmental factors that pose a threat to healthy brain development. The book employs practical applications/recommendations and case examples that help solidify understanding of key concepts. Each chapter begins with a set of objectives and interactive exercises that builds on the next, thoughtfully challenging the reader (and giving specific, practical ways for the reader) to apply the information presented with the goal of "change". The text is written from the perspective of a trauma-informed addiction psychiatrist who has effectively facilitated systems change. Topics featured in this book include: Common threats to healthy brain development. The neurobiology of trauma. Applying trauma-informed practices and approaches. Cannabis and its impact on the brain. Labeling theory and implicit bias. Exploring the connection between fear and trauma. Rehabilitation versus habilitation. Managing stress through mindfulness. Training for Change will be of interest to graduate and advanced undergraduate students and researchers in the fields of cognitive psychology, criminology, public health, and child and adolescent development as well as parents, teachers, judges, attorneys, preventative medicine and pediatric providers.

Juveniles who commit crimes often find themselves in court systems that do not account for their young age, but it wasn't always this way. The original aim of a separate juvenile justice system was to treat young offenders as the children they were, considering their unique child status and amenability for reform. Now, after years punishing young offenders as if they were adults, slowly the justice system is making changes that would allow the original vision for juvenile justice to finally materialize. In its original design, the founders focused on treating youth offenders separately from adults and with a different approach. The hallmarks of this approach appreciated the fact that youth cannot fully understand the consequences of their actions and are therefore worthy of reduced culpability. The original design for youth justice prioritized brief and confidential contact with the juvenile justice system, so as to avoid the stigma that would otherwise mar a youth's chances for success upon release. Rehabilitation was seen as the priority, and efforts to redirect wayward youth were to be implemented when possible and appropriate. The original tenets of the juvenile justice system were slowly dismantled and replaced with a system more like the adult criminal justice system, one which takes no account of age. In recent years, the tide has turned again. The number of incarcerated youth has been cut in half nationally. In addition, juvenile justice practices are increasingly guided by scholarship in adolescent development that confirms important differences between youth and adults. And, states and localities are choosing to invest in evidence based approaches to juvenile crime prevention and intervention rather than in facilities to lock up errant youth. This book assesses the strategies and policies that have produced these important shifts in direction. Important contributing factors include the declining incidence of youth-committed crime, advances in adolescent brain science, nationwide budgetary concerns, focused advocacy with policymakers and practitioners, and successful public education campaigns that address extreme sanctions for youth such as solitary confinement and life sentences without the possibility of parole. Yet more needs to be done. The U.S. Supreme Court has recently voiced its unfaltering conclusion that children are different from adults in a series of landmark cases. The question now is how to take advantage of the opportunity for juvenile justice reform of the kind that would reorient the juvenile justice system to its original intent both in policy and practice, and would return to a system that treats children as children. Using case examples throughout, Nellis offers a compelling history and shows how we might continue on the road to reform.

This edited volume focuses on the role that school climate and disciplinary practices have on the educational and social experiences of students of color. Drawing from quantitative, qualitative, and theoretical studies, it brings to bear a number of topics such as racialized school experiences; criminology, discursive deviance and punishment and carceral studies; urban studies; school administration and leadership; and, a number of critical theorist frameworks. Practical insights are offered to assist administrators, teachers, school counsellors, and other school and non-school based professionals on how to address not only disparities in school discipline, but also create and promote an inclusive, affirming positive school culture and climate. With applications in disciplinary studies and criminology, leadership studies, critical race theory and other critical frameworks, this volume is a valuable resource advancing new theoretical concepts.