Youth Justice

This article examines the strategies developed within and around government to achieve a homogeneous youth justice service in England and Wales. It examines the ways in which political imperatives have shaped the theories and ideas which have informed the development of the service, its administration, the goals to which professionals are required to strive and the methods they must employ. It argues that this has had a limiting effect upon both thinking about, and practice within, the service and has generated tension which may well undermine its stated goals.

This article draws on the theories of Michel Foucault to develop a particular characterisation of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. In short, it is argued that Foucault’s historical portrayal of the penal system finds clear and strong echoes in the recent UK criminal justice legislation. The development of sophisticated techniques of discipline and control found in key aspects of the 1998 Act reflects his description of finely graded and systematically applied interventions in the context of delinquent (and pre-delinquent) behaviour. The implications of this are considered, both for the burgeoning machinery of youth justice, and also for young people who are likely to be subjected to these intensified forms of coercive practice.

In the 1990s policy relating to children and young people who offend developed as a result of the interplay of political imperatives and populist demands. The ‘responsibilisation’ of young offenders and the ‘no excuses’ culture of youth justice have been ‘marketed’ through a discourse which evidences linguistic changes. This article focuses on one particular area of policy change, that relating to the prosecutorial decision, to show how particular images of children were both reflected and constructed through a changing selection of words to describe the non-adult suspect and offender. In such minutiae of discourse can be found not only the signifiers of public attitudinal and policy change, but also the means by which undesirable policy developments can be challenged.

This article considers the registration requirements of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 for Children and Young People under the age of 18. It reviews the development of this legislation specific to children and young people and criticises the rationale for registration. It also explores the intended and unintended consequences of the legislation. The current position is challenged on the basis of inappropriate assumptions made of these children and young people and the negative impact of this legislation on them. Options for change are considered.