How can youth justice refocus its attentions on the rights and perspectives of young people in transition? This exciting new book outlines the state of practice now in flux within structures created by New Labour but moving in a different direction under the Coalition Government. With a loosening of rules and prescription, it explores opportunities for a fresh orientation that places young people at the centre and works collaboratively to nurture strengths, competences and capital. The chapters build a picture of the risks and problems that modern society creates for young people, while acknowledging that society must respond when their behaviours legitimately cause risks and problems for others. The burning question is how we do so and this book proposes a critical perspective that leads into a bold, but realistic remodelling of practice. It will be ideal for students of youth justice and criminal justice on foundation, post-qualifying or professional (CPD) courses.

Lawmakers and judges often enact and enforce laws and policies that impact youth. The extent to which these legal actions are sensitive to juveniles' perspectives and experiences has changed recently. Compared to an earlier time when juveniles were treated the same as adults, many policies are now created with the needs of juveniles in mind, thanks in part to psychological studies that have revealed that the decision making, behavior, and cognitions of children vary drastically from those of adults. Unique in its angle and in the breadth of social issues it covers, Psychology, Law, and the Wellbeing of Children brings together new research and analyses to address how legal actions affect children's wellbeing. It addresses how civil and criminal law has evolved to protect, and sometimes inadvertently neglect or harm, the wellbeing and development of children. Each chapter describes a law or policy affecting children, identifies the relevant psychological issues, reviews the research that has been conducted or should be conducted, and provides recommendations for professionals in law and/or psychology. With contributions from top researchers and practitioners in the field, chapters discuss many current debates, including issues such as gender-specific programming for juvenile delinquents, interrogations of juveniles, changes in divorce and custody procedures, programs for imprisoned mothers, and legal actions adopted to protect the health of children and society (e.g., HPV vaccinations, considering child obesity to be abuse). This book will be a vital resource for those interested in protecting the wellbeing of children, including academics and researchers in psychology, criminology, and sociology; practitioners such as judges, attorneys, forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers; and graduate and law students.

The detention of children and young people as a response to delinquent and antisocial behaviour remains a topical and controversial issue. In this new edition of Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation, Jim Rose provides an historical perspective on the topic of young people in custody and discusses the changes that have taken place in youth justice and the secure estate over recent years. Rose introduces new material and has updated the original content in order to reflect changes in policy and practice. New areas covered include a consideration of the issues arising for children and families who are detained while issues of immigration and removal are being determined and the detention of children in police custody. Using a framework of ideas and theories to support staff thinking, the central chapters explore in detail the dynamics that emerge when the daily work of staff requires them to engage with vulnerable young people in the intense conditions of a locked environment. The relationships between staff and young people are shown as critical for the achievement of positive outcomes. Taking a unique look at the issue of detention and its impact on young people, this highly topical book will be invaluable reading for practitioners, academics, policy makers and senior managers as well as students of social work, youth justice and education.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to juvenile delinquency by defining and describing juvenile delinquency, examining explanations for delinquent behavior, and considering contemporary efforts to control delinquency through prevention and juvenile justice. The text cultivates an understanding of juvenile delinquency by examining and linking key criminological theories and research. Coverage includes: the historical origins and transformation of "juvenile delinquency" and juvenile justice; the nature of delinquency, addressing the extent of delinquent offenses, the social correlates of offending and victimization (age, gender, race and ethnicity, and social class), and the developmental patterns of offending; theoretical explanations of delinquency, with insights from biosocial criminology, routine activities, rational choice, social control, social learning, social structure, labeling, and critical criminologies; evidence-based practice in delinquency prevention and contemporary juvenile justice. Fully revised and updated, the new edition incorporates the latest theory and research in the field of juvenile delinquency and provides expanded discussion of contemporary juvenile justice reform, evidence-based practice in delinquency prevention, and disproportionate minority contact throughout the juvenile justice process. This book is essential reading for courses on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice. The book is supported by a range of compelling pedagogical features. Each chapter includes key terms, learning objectives, an opening case study, box inserts that provide practical application of theory and research, critical thinking questions, suggested reading, useful websites, and a glossary of key terms. A companion website offers an array of resources for students and instructors. For students, this website provides chapter overviews, flashcards of key terms, and useful websites. The instructor site is password protected and offers a complete set of PowerPoint slides and an extensive test bank for each chapter-all prepared by the authors.

Subcultures: The Basics is an accessible and engaging introduction to subcultures in a global context. This fully revised new edition adds new case studies and an additional chapter on the digital lives of subculturists as well as reflections on the relationships between subcultures and globalisation and the resurgence of the far-right. Blending theory and practice, this text examines a varied range of subcultures including hip hop, graffiti writing, heavy metal, punk, gamers, burlesque, parkour, riot grrrl, straight edge, roller derby, steampunk, b-boying/b-girling, body modification, and skateboarding. Subcultures: The Basics answers the key questions posed by those new to the subject, including:

What is a subculture? What are the significant theories of subculture?

How do subcultures emerge, who participates and why?

How do subcultural identities interact with other aspects of self, such as social class, race, gender, and sexual identity?

What is the relationship between deviance, resistance and the ‘mainstream’?

How have both progressive and reactionary subculturists contributed to social change?

How does society react to different subcultures?

How have subcultures spread around the world?

In what ways do digital technologies and social media influence subcultures?

What happens when subculturists age?

Tracing the history and development of subcultural theory to the present day, this text is essential reading for all those studying subcultures in the contexts of sociology, cultural studies, history, media studies, anthropology, musicology, and criminology. It pushes the field forward with cutting-edge theories of resistance and social change, place and space, critical race and queer studies, virtual participation, and ageing and participation across the life course. Key terms and concepts are highlighted throughout the text whilst each chapter includes boxed case studies and signposts students to further reading and resources.

Table of Contents

1. What is a Subculture?

2. How do Subcultures Emerge and Why do People Participate?

3. How do Subcultures Resist ‘Mainstream’ Society … and are They Successful?

4. Who Participates in Subcultures and How do Subcultural Identities Interact with Other Aspects of Self?

5. Who are the ‘Authentic’ Subculturists and Who are the ‘Poseurs’?

6. How Does Society React to Subcultures?

7. Where do Subculturists Hang Out, From the Local to the Global?

8. How Have Digital Technologies Influenced Subcultures?

9. What Happens to Subculturists as They ‘Grow Up’?

Combining theory with practical application, this seminal introduction to juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice integrates the latest research with emerging problems and trends in an overview of the field. Now in its sixth edition, this book features new interviews and discussions with child care professionals and juvenile justice practitioners on their experiences translating theory to practice. It addresses recent changes in the characteristics of delinquents alongside changes in laws and the rise of social media and smartphones. It includes a new chapter of international perspectives on juvenile justice and delinquency. Incorporated throughout is consideration of the mental health and special needs of youth in the juvenile justice system, as well as at-risk and non-fault children as victims. With attention to both quantitative and qualitative findings, this clear and comprehensive text will be useful for students of criminology, criminal justice, sociology and those interested in working with at-risk youth.

Children and youth become involved with the juvenile justice system at a significant rate. While some children move just as quickly out of the system and go on to live productive lives as adults, other children become enmeshed in the system, developing deeper problems and or transferring into the adult criminal justice system. Justice for Kids is a volume of work by leading academics and activists that focuses on ways to intervene at the earliest possible point to rehabilitate and redirect-to keep kids out of the system-rather than to punish and drive kids deeper. Justice for Kids presents a compelling argument for rethinking and restructuring the juvenile justice system as we know it. This unique collection explores the system's fault lines with respect to all children, and focuses in particular on issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation that skew the system. Most importantly, it provides specific program initiatives that offer alternatives to our thinking about prevention and deterrence, with an ultimate focus on keeping kids out of the system altogether.

What makes a juvenile delinquent develop into an adult criminal? What defines-cognitively, developmentally, legally-the transition from juvenile to adult and what determines whether patterns of criminal behavior persist? In most US states and Western nations, legal adulthood begins at age 18. This volume focuses on the period surrounding that abrupt transition (roughly ages 15-29) and addresses what happens to offending careers during it. Edited by two leading authorities in the fields of psychology and criminology, Transitions from Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime examines why the period of transition is important and how it can be better understood and addressed both inside and outside of the justice system. Bringing together over thirty leading scholars from multiple disciplines in both North America and Europe, this volume asks critical questions about criminal careers and causation, and whether current legal definitions of adulthood accurately reflect actual maturation and development. The volume also addresses the current efficacy of the justice system in addressing juvenile crime and recidivism, why and how juveniles ought to be treated differently from adults, if special legal provisions should be established for young adults, and the effectiveness of crime prevention programs implemented during early childhood and adolescence. With serious scholarly analysis and practical policy proposals, Transitions from Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime addresses what can be done to ensure that today's juvenile delinquents do not become tomorrow's adult criminals.

An in-depth analysis of the legal entry points and remedies in the school-to-prison pipeline The "school-to-prison pipeline" is an emerging trend that pushes large numbers of at-risk youth-particularly children of color-out of classrooms and into the juvenile justice system. The policies and practices that contribute to this trend can be seen as a pipeline with many entry points, from under-resourced K-12 public schools, to the over-use of zero-tolerance suspensions and expulsions and to the explosion of policing and arrests in public schools. The confluence of these practices threatens to prepare an entire generation of children for a future of incarceration. In this comprehensive study of the relationship between American law and the school-to-prison pipeline, co-authors Catherine Y. Kim, Daniel J. Losen, and Damon T. Hewitt analyze the current state of the law for each entry point on the pipeline and propose legal theories and remedies to challenge them. Using specific state-based examples and case studies, the authors assert that law can be an effective weapon in the struggle to reduce the number of children caught in the pipeline, address the devastating consequences of the pipeline on families and communities, and ensure that our public schools and juvenile justice system further the goals for which they were created: to provide meaningful, safe opportunities for all the nation's children.

The majority of young people in the American juvenile justice system have diagnosable mental illnesses, including substance abuse, mental retardation and learning disorders. However, these often remain undetected and untreated. In this book, a team of experts examines the prevalence of mental disorders in this population and describes the means of screening for, diagnosing, and treating them effectively in a developmentally appropriate, culturally sensitive manner. They also examine psychopharmacologic and psychotherapeutic approaches; innovative alternatives to detention; the true costs of detaining youth; vulnerability to self-incrimination; and the alarming trend of minority confinement. Their comprehensive coverage includes discussion of ethical dilemmas and the need for preventive strategies and integrated approaches involving judicial, law enforcement, educational, and mental health professionals. This book will be of interest to both mental health and juvenile justice professionals.

Despite a century of effort, criminologists do not yet fully understand the relationship between disadvantage and crime. The balance of evidence suggests that economic and social stress increase the risk of involvement in crime by increasing the motivation to offend. But there are a number of empirical anomalies that cannot easily be reconciled with this interpretation of the evidence. Weatherburn and Lind argue that the transmission mechanism linking economic and social stress to crime is not offender motivation but disruption to the parenting process. They put forward an epidemic model of the genesis of delinquent-prone communities and show how this model resolves the empirical anomalies facing conventional interpretations of the disadvantage/crime relationship. This book offers compelling evidence which will stimulate debate in this area of criminology and will also interest academics, policy makers and practitioners in the field.

This book deals with fundamental and at times controversial issues in juvenile justice that reach beyond the individual juvenile justice systems of various countries. The book concludes with a number of recommendations for improvements in juvenile justice.

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.

This book presents a study of co-offering relations among youths under twenty-one suspected of criminal offences in Stockholm during 1991-5. In total, the study includes just over 22,000 individuals suspected of around 29,000 offences. Jerzy Sarnecki employs the methods of network analysis which makes it possible to study the ties, social bonds, interactions, differential associations and connections that are central to many of the sociologically oriented theories on the aetiology of crime. Up to now, network analysis has been used only rarely in the criminological context. The book discusses many aspects of Stockholm's delinquent networks such as the existence of delinquent gangs and a criminal underworld, the durability of delinquent relations, and the choice of co-offenders with respect to sex, age, residential location, ethnic background and earlier delinquent experience. It also considers the effects of societal intervention on criminal networks. This unique study will appeal to a wide audience.

This book deals with child soldiers' involvement in crimes under international law. Child soldiers are often victims of grave human rights abuses, and yet, in some cases, they also participate actively in inflicting violence upon others. Nonetheless, the international discourse on child soldiers often tends to ignore the latter dimension of children's involvement in armed conflict and instead focuses exclusively on their role as victims. While it might seem as though the discourse is therefore beneficial for child soldiers as it protects them from blame and responsibility, it is important to realize that the so-called passive victim narrative entails various adverse consequences, which can hinder the successful reintegration of child soldiers into their families, communities and societies. This book aims to address this dilemma. First, the available options for dealing with child soldiers' participation in crimes under international law, such as transitional justice and criminal justice, and their shortcomings are analyzed in depth. Subsequently a new approach is developed towards achieving accountability in a child-adequate way, which is called restorative transitional justice. This book is in the first place aimed at researchers with an interest in child soldiers, children and armed conflict, as well as international criminal law, transitional justice, juvenile justice, restorative justice, children's rights, and international human rights law. Secondly, professionals working on issues of transitional justice, juvenile justice, international criminal law, children's rights, and the reintegration of child soldiers will also find the subject matter of great relevance to their practice. Dr. Leonie Steinl, LL.M. (Columbia) is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the Humboldt-Universitat in Berlin.

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.

When is it fair to hold young people criminally responsible? If young people lack the capacity to make a meaningful choice and to control their impulses, should they be held criminally culpable for their behaviour? In what ways is the immaturity of young offenders relevant to their blameworthiness? Should youth offending behaviour be proscribed by criminal law? These are just some of the questions asked in this thoughtful and provocative book. In The Moral Foundations of the Youth Justice System, Raymond Arthur explores international and historical evidence on how societies regulate criminal behaviour by young people, and undertakes a careful examination of the developmental capacities and processes that are relevant to young people's criminal choices. He argues that the youth justice response needs to be reconceptualised in a context where one of the central objectives of institutions regulating children and young people's behaviour is to support the interests and welfare of those children. This timely book advocates a revolutionary transformation of the structure and process of contemporary youth justice law: a synthesised and integrated approach that is clearly distinct from that used for dealing with adults. This book is a key resource for students, academics and practitioners across fields including criminal law, youth justice, probation and social work.

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.

To reveal how membership in adolescent street gangs influences human development, the authors examine the origins of gang membership and the social and psychological factors that lead to joining. After demonstrating that gang members are responsible for the major share of serious and violent delinquency, they indicate how membership facilitates delinquent behavior and other developmental problems such as teen pregnancy and school dropout.

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.

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.

This book examines youth justice in a UK and international context, while drawing on the author's experience in Scotland to highlight the challenge facing all jurisdictions in balancing welfare and justice. It explores the impact of political ideas and influences on both the structural and practical challenges of delivering youth justice and practice initiatives including early intervention, restorative justice, structured risk assessments, intensive supervision, maintaining change over time, and practice evaluation. The theoretical framework draws on social learning theory and the tradition of socio-education/social pedagogy as reflected in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is the only book to focus specifically on the application of evidence to service delivery within youth justice. It will be an essential text for social work students undertaking university-based modules or practice-based learning in services which address youth crime and youth justice, as well as other students interested in the application of criminology and youth justice principles. It will also be valuable for practitioners involved in delivering youth justice services, including those on post-qualifying social work training courses.

After decades of rigorous study in the United States and across the Western world, a great deal is known about the early risk factors for offending. High impulsiveness, low attainment, criminal parents, parental conflict, and growing up in a deprived, high-crime neighborhood are among the most important factors. There is also a growing body of high quality scientific evidence on the effectiveness of early prevention programs designed to prevent children from embarking on a life of crime.
Drawing on the latest evidence, Saving Children from a Life of Crime is the first book to assess the early causes of offending and what works best to prevent it. Preschool intellectual enrichment, child skills training, parent management training, and home visiting programs are among the most effective early prevention programs. Criminologists David Farrington and Brandon Welsh also outline a policy strategy--early prevention--that uses this current research knowledge and brings into sharper focus what America's national crime fighting priority ought to be.
At a time when unacceptable crime levels in America, rising criminal justice costs, and a punitive crime policy have spurred a growing interest in the early prevention of delinquency, Farrington and Welsh here lay the groundwork for change with a comprehensive national prevention strategy to save children from a life of crime.

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"The result of Miller's information lode is aa]sometimes uplifting book. It is possible for government and private-sector programs to alleviate the violence against females, Miller believes--but not if those in charge lack the will and refuse to allocate the resources."
--"St. Louis Post Dispatch"

aMiller gives us a detailed examination of the violence experienced by Black inner city girls whose victimization is based on multiple dimensions of their lives: because they are Black, because they live in extremely disadvantaged neighborhoods, and because they are women. Milleras careful, rich, detailed field work documents and analyzes the complex realities of these young womenas lives that set the context for the struggles they routinely contend with. The voices of these young people have been ignored for too long. Getting Played has given them an opportunity to be heard that is long overdue.a
--Robert Crutchfield, University of Washington

aGetting Played shows powerfully how gender, class, and race inequality expose girls in disadvantaged urban communities to violent and sexual victimization, both in neighborhoods and in schools. Miller expertly analyzes how extreme social and economic disadvantage combine with pervasive normative codes to create a context in which girls face high risks of victimization at the hands of boys and men. Getting Played is masterful.a
--Karen Heimer, co-editor of "Gender and Crime: Patterns in Victimization and Offending"

aBy giving us a better understanding of how the neighborhoods and the peer culture of poor African American youth increase the risk of agendered victimization, a GettingPlayed challenges both academics and policymakers to face the role of structured discrimination in the perpetuation of violence toward women.a
--Candace Kruttschnitt, co-author of "Marking Time in the Golden State: Womenas Imprisonment in California"

aThis is a significant and timely book. Miller has taken on a vitally important, but understudied, topic--violence against young Black girls in economically depressed urban settings.a
--Dana M. Britton, author of "At Work in the Iron Cage: The Prison as Gendered Organization"

aMiller grabs readers' attention with the stark reality of the widespread occurrence of violent victimization among the girls she studies.a
--From the Foreword by Ruth D. Peterson, Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The Ohio State University

Much has been written about the challenges that face urban African American young men, but less is said about the harsh realities for African American young women in disadvantaged communities. Sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and even gang rape are not uncommon experiences. In Getting Played, sociologist Jody Miller presents a compelling picture of this dire social problem and explores how inextricably, and tragically, linked violence is to their daily lives in poor urban neighborhoods.

Drawing from richly textured interviews with adolescent girls and boys, Miller brings a keen eye to the troubling realities of a world infused with danger and gender-based violence. These girls are isolated, ignored, and often victimized by those considered family and friends. Community institutions such as the police and schools that are meant to protect them often turn a blind eye, leaving girls to fend for themselves. Miller draws a vivid picture of the race and gender inequalities that harm these communities--and how these result in deeply and dangerously engrained beliefs about gender that teach youths to see such violence--rather than the result of broader social inequalities--as deserved due to individual girlsa flawed characters, i.e., ashe deserved it.a

Through Milleras careful analysis of these engaging, often unsettling stories, Getting Played shows us not only how these young women are victimized, but how, despite vastly inadequate social support and opportunities, they struggle to navigate this dangerous terrain.

This book presents a study of co-offending relations among youths under 21 suspected of criminal offenses in Stockholm during 1991-1995. In total, the study includes just over 22,000 individuals suspected of around 29,000 offenses. Jerzy Sarnecki employs the method of network analysis that makes it possible to study the ties, social bonds, interactions, differential associations and connections that are central to many of the sociologically oriented theories on the etiology of crime. Up to now, network analysis had been used only rarely in the criminological context.