An article presented findings from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with young offenders and victim liaison officers, and observations of youth offender panels. It focused on the attitudes of young offenders toward victims, and their reactions to the prospect of meeting the victim of their offending face-to-face as part of their referral order. Significant tensions between the aspirations of restorative justice and practical realities in the English system were examined.
Source: Alex Newbury, '"I would have been able to hear what they think": tensions in achieving restorative outcomes in the English youth justice system', Youth Justice, Volume 11 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
The joint inspectorate report examined the journey of a child or young person from the point they arrived at a police station through to charge. It focused on the role of the 'appropriate adult', and whether children and young people who had been charged and were waiting to appear in court were being placed in suitable local authority accommodation. Appropriate adult provision was found to have evolved into being another part of the custody process, with a focus on complying with statutory requirements rather than safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
Source: Who's Looking out for the Children? A joint inspection of appropriate adult provision and children in detention after charge, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (with 5 other inspectorates)
Links: Report | Joint press release | Out of Trouble press release
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined how risk had proliferated across a wide range of youth-related fields in England – becoming a social, political, and moral entity in itself rather than a tool for primarily criminological prediction and intervention. This proliferation demanded further empirical study and theoretical scrutiny beyond the criminal justice sphere in which it was often contained.
Source: Gavin Turnbull and Jean Spence, 'What's at risk? The proliferation of risk across child and youth policy in England', Journal of Youth Studies, Volume 14 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined the early history of innovation in restorative practice, which was initially developed as a juvenile diversion programme based on principles of offence resolution and minimum intervention.
Source: Roger Smith, 'Developing restorative practice: contemporary lessons from an English juvenile diversion project of the 1980s', Contemporary Justice Review, Volume 14 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined young people's responses to being governed in secure residential facilities, focusing on their expressions of agency.
Source: Alexandra Cox, 'Doing the programme or doing me? The pains of youth imprisonment', Punishment and Society, Volume 13 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
A report (based on interviews with young people in prison) said that care was a stepping stone to custody for a disproportionate number of looked-after children. Although fewer than 1 per cent of children in England were in care, more than one-quarter of boys and one-half of girls in young offender institutions had been in care.
Source: Rachel Blades, Di Hart, Joanna Lea, and Natasha Willmott, Care – A Stepping Stone to Custody? The views of children in care on the links between care, offending and custody, Prison Reform Trust/National Children?s Bureau
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Dec
An article said that attempts to improve resettlement provision for young people leaving custody had been 'beset with failure' because of the way in which the concept of resettlement had been interpreted by policy-makers. Instead of an acknowledgment of the broader structural constraints arising from poverty and socio-economic disadvantage, young people's social needs on release from custody had been individualized and equated with perceived personal deficits. The article considered how young people's resettlement needs could be advanced through the development of a transformative rights-based approach that was informed by social justice ideals.
Source: Patricia Gray, 'Youth custody, resettlement and the right to social justice', Youth Justice, Volume 11 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
A report said that, in the light of advances in neuroscience, the age of criminal responsibility – 10 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland – might be too low. Important changes in the brain's neural circuits went on well into a person's teens.
Source: Neuroscience and the Law, Royal Society
Links: Report | Royal Society press release | Justice Gap press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Dec
A briefing paper summarized evidence on the role of advice services in preventing youth offending, and the potential impact on crime of cuts to advice services proposed by the coalition government.
Source: Heading for Trouble?, JustRights
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Nov
The coalition government responded to a report by the children's watchdog for England that made a series of recommendations designed to protect the rights and emotional well-being of children and young people in custody. It agreed that children in detention were entitled to have access to the same range and quality of services as children in the community.
Source: Government Response to the Office of the Children s Commissioner s Report: I Think I Must Have Been Born Bad – Emotional well-being and mental health of children and young people in the youth justice system, Ministry of Justice/Department of Health
Links: Response
Notes: OCC report (June 2011)
Date: 2011-Nov
A seminar report examined the potential consequences of widening the use of payment-by-results contracts in the youth criminal justice system.
Source: Payment by Results in Tackling Youth Crime, Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
Links: Report | Commission press release
Date: 2011-Nov
A new book said that the public disorder that struck many of England's major cities in August 2011 was not simply the result of mindless criminality. A sense of grievance (particularly in relation to over-intensive policing), combined with a lack of opportunity, shared identity or empowerment, were the central factors that needed to be addressed if a similar situation were to be prevented from arising again.
Source: Steve Reicher and Clifford Stott, Mad Mobs and Englishmen? Myths and realities of the 2011 riots, Constable & Robinson
Links: Summary | St Andrews University press release
Date: 2011-Nov
The coalition government published a report into ways of ending gang and youth violence, following the outbreak of serious public disorder in England in August 2011. It identified a range of common factors in the life stories of those involved in the disorder: parental neglect early in life, often linked to drug addiction or alcohol abuse and violence in the home; a history of poor discipline at school, truancy, and exclusion; early brushes with the law for more minor offences; and exposure to older gang members, often based around their local estate. The government said that it would embark on a comprehensive, long-term, evidence-based programme in response, based on five principles:
Preventing young people becoming involved in violence in the first place, with a new emphasis on early intervention and prevention.
• Pathways out of violence and the gang culture for young people wanting to make a break with the past.
• Punishment and enforcement to suppress the violence of those refusing to exit violent lifestyles.
• Partnership working to join up the way local areas responded to gang and other youth violence.
• Providing support to local areas wanting to tackle their gang or youth violence problem.
Source: Ending Gang and Youth Violence: A cross-government report, Cm 8211, Home Office, TSO
Links: Report | Hansard | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-Nov
The coalition government published independent research into the motivations of young people involved in the August 2011 riots in English cities. Young people talked about the difficulty of managing on the money they received when out of work or in training. At the same time, a materialistic culture was cited as having contributed to looting by both young people and community stakeholders. Participants from the unaffected area suggested that the starker contrast between wealth and poverty in London meant that the disparity between young people's material desires and what they could afford might be more pronounced.
Source: Gareth Morrell, Sara Scott, Di McNeish, and Stephen Webster, The August Riots in England: Understanding the Involvement of Young People, Cabinet Office
Links: Report | Summary | Cabinet Office press release | NatCen press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Nov
A report by a committee of MPs examined the coalition government's proposal to abolish the Youth Justice Board and transfer its functions to a Youth Justice Division of the Ministry of Justice. The new Division should continue the work started by the YJB to reduce the 'prescriptive' level of oversight of youth offending teams, which should be able systematically to provide feedback on the work of the Division.
Source: The Proposed Abolition of the Youth Justice Board, Tenth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1547, House of Commons Justice Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Additional written evidence | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Nov
The coalition government climbed down over plans to abolish the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (removing the proposal from the Public Bodies Bill).
Source: Debate 23 November 2011, columns 1070-1075, House of Lords Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | CMH press release | Labour Party press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Nov
The interim report was published of a government-appointed panel that examined the outbreak of serious public disorder in English cities in August 2011. There was no one single motivating factor for the riots. The fact that many people abused society s moral and legal codes when the opportunity arose painted a 'disturbing' picture: most of all, a widespread feeling that some rioters had no hope and nothing to lose.
Source: 5 Days in August: An interim report on the 2011 English riots, Riots Communities and Victims Panel
Links: Report | DCLG press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Nov
A review report made 31 recommendations for changes to the youth justice system and wider arrangements for children in Northern Ireland.
Source: A Review of the Youth Justice System in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Report | NIE press release
Date: 2011-Nov
The prosecution service inspectorate said that prosecutors were supporting the aim of the youth justice system by correctly diverting young people from court. Prosecutors were 'properly circumspect' when deciding whether an application should be made before conviction to restrict the liberty of young people.
Source: Thematic Review of Youth Offender Casework, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate
Links: Report | HMCPSI press release
Date: 2011-Nov
A report said that 'absentee' fathers were contributing to high levels of addiction, anti-social behaviour, and crime among young people. Not having a father left young people feeling angry, less confident, more insecure, and with self-esteem problems. The problem was set to worsen as intergenerational paternal absence became the norm in some of the poorest communities.
Source: Martin Glynn, Dad and Me: Research into the problems caused by absent fathers, Addaction
Links: Report | Addaction press release
Date: 2011-Oct
An article examined the role of intensive family support in the governance of anti-social behaviour.
Source: Sadie Parr, ' Family policy and the governance of anti-social behaviour in the UK: women's experiences of intensive family support', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 40 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Oct
An article examined the internal operation of the Youth Justice Board. The YJB was an 'inherently ambiguous' organization: this ambiguity had made it simultaneously highly insecure and extremely productive, enabling it to extend its influence and activities beyond those initially envisaged in New Labour's reforms.
Source: Anna Souhami, ' Inside the Youth Justice Board: ambiguity and influence in New Labour's youth justice', Safer Communities, Volume 10 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Oct
A report examined children's and young people's own perception of imprisonment, based on surveys carried out annually in all young offender institutions holding children and young people aged 15-18. The numbers imprisoned had continued to fall, from 1,977 in 2009-10 to 1,822 in 2010-11 – an 8 per cent decline. The proportion of black and minority-ethnic young men had risen to 39 per cent (from 33 per cent in 2009-10).
Source: Amy Summerfield, Children and Young People in Custody 2010-11: An analysis of the experiences of 15-18-year-olds in prison, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Oct
A report examined the use of restorative justice with young people in custody.
Source: Theo Gavrielides, Restorative Justice and the Secure Estate: Alternatives for young people in custody, Independent Academic Research Studies
Links: Summary | IARS press release
Date: 2011-Oct
An article examined the enforcement of statutory orders within the youth justice system. Inflexible guidance on enforcement – based on incidents of non-compliance rather than the child's attitudes and engagement – could constrain practitioners and disadvantage the most vulnerable children without any evidence that it 'worked' in making communities safer.
Source: Di Hart, ' Public protection or public perception? Breach action within the youth justice system', Safer Communities, Volume 10 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Oct
An article examined the prevalence of racially motivated offending among young people, and the level of provision for such offenders. The vast majority of offenders were male and white. There was a noticeable 'north-south' split, with levels of offending in the north generally higher. Sanctions for racially motivated offences were more severe than for offences generally.
Source: Hannah Smithson, Aidan Wilcox, Leanne Monchuk, Kris Christmann, and Kevin Wong, 'The prevalence of youth racially motivated offending: what do we really know?', Probation Journal, Volume 58 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Sep
A special journal issue examined the youth justice system.
Source: David Smith and David Utting, 'Reforming the response to youth crime: from evidence to implementation', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 6 Number 2 | Barry Goldson, 'The Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour: fresh start or false dawn?', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 6 Number 2 | Elly Farmer, 'The age of criminal responsibility: developmental science and human rights perspectives', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 6 Number 2 | Tim Newburn, 'Policing youth anti-social behaviour and crime: time for reform?', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 6 Number 2 | Susan McVie, 'Alternative models of youth justice: lessons from Scotland and Northern Ireland', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 6 Number 2 | John Pitts and Malcolm Stevens, 'The custodial labyrinth', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 6 Number 2 | Jo Phoenix, 'In search of a youth justice pedagogy? A commentary', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 6 Number 2
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2011-Sep
A report examined the experiences of young people after leaving custody and while under the supervision of youth offending teams in the community. It explored young people's perceptions of themselves as separate from the rest of society; how the conditions and restrictions that were imposed on them when they left prison criminalized and excluded them further; and the importance of positive relationships with professionals, their families, and communities.
Source: Life Outside: Collective Identity, Collective Exclusion, Howard League for Penal Reform
Links: HLPR press release
Date: 2011-Sep
A new book examined the factors that drove young black people into the 'vicious cycle' of gang culture.
Source: Emeka Egbuonu, Consequences: 'Breaking the Negative Cycle', Amazon Kindle/Knowledge Bidders
Links: Summary | OBV press release
Date: 2011-Sep
An article examined approaches to anti-social behaviour in England and Victoria (Australia). In England, an emphasis on the needs of the victim prioritized the prevention of particular behaviours, whereas interventions in Victoria sought to address the needs of the perpetrator that were seen to contribute to or result from anti-social behaviour.
Source: Nathan Hughes, 'Young people "as risk" or young people "at risk": comparing discourses of anti-social behaviour in England and Victoria', Critical Social Policy, Volume 31 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Aug
A briefing paper examined the way in which children who committed offences were dealt with under the Scottish criminal justice system, focusing on those under the age of 16.
Source: Frazer McCallum, Children and the Scottish Criminal Justice System, Briefing 11/53, Scottish Parliament
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Aug
A new textbook examined policing and young people. It looked at the issues involved in working with young people as offenders, suspects, witnesses, victims, and citizens; at perceptions of young people, and the role of the media in the context of debates around anti-social behaviour, gangs, and the family; and at the impact of multi-agency approaches on the way that young people were dealt with by the police and other agencies.
Source: Colin Rogers and Tim Read, Policing and Young People, Learning Matters
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Aug
An inspectorate report in Northern Ireland said that diverting young people where appropriate away from the formal justice system was an important element of the overall approach to youth justice.
Source: Youth Diversion: A thematic inspection of youth diversion in the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland
Links: Report | CJINI press release
Date: 2011-Jul
A joint inspectorate report said that young offenders were more likely to receive the health services that they needed, following improved working by youth offending teams.
Source: Re:Actions: A third review of healthcare in the community for young people who offend, Care Quality Commission and HM Inspectorate of Probation
Links: Report | CQC press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Jul
A joint inspectorate report said that interventions designed to prevent young people in England and Wales from reoffending needed to be planned better, delivered better, and evaluated better – despite many examples of good practice.
Source: To Get the Best Results: A joint inspection of offending behaviour, health and education, training & employment interventions in youth offending work in England and Wales, HM Chief Inspector of Probation/Care Quality Commission/Estyn/Healthcare Inspectorate Wales/Ofsted
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
A paper examined the sentencing of young adults, and the case for considering maturity as part of the sentencing process. It recommended the holding of a pilot under which young adults aged 18-20 would be sentenced under juvenile law where appropriate; and that lack of maturity should be seen as a factor reflecting reduced culpability, and a factor reflecting personal mitigation, in the development of sentencing guidelines.
Source: Jon Collins and Gemma Lousley, Sentencing Young Adults: Getting It Right, Transition to Adulthood Alliance
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jul
The coalition government began consultation on the future shape of the youth secure estate in England and Wales, including how to reorganize the estate in response to decreasing demand.
Source: Strategy for the Secure Estate for Children and Young People in England and Wales: Plans for 2011/12-2014/15, Ministry of Justice
Links: Consultation document | Impact assessment | Equality impact assessment | MOJ press release
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined the youth justice system in England and Wales under New Labour from 1997 to 2010. Since 1997 the focus of the youth justice system had been on individual and family responsibility, the creation of more efficient systems management, and risk assessment and prediction. This had resulted in a system that was ambiguous in terms of what it was trying to achieve.
Source: Philip Whitehead and Raymond Arthur, '"Let no one despise your youth": a sociological approach to youth justice under New Labour 1997-2010', International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Volume 31 Issue 7/8
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined the definition and nature of depressive illness, its various modes of presentation, and its significance in male, female, and adolescent populations.
Source: Sarah Hodgkinson and Herschel Prins, 'Perspectives on depression, gender and crime: depression sometimes masked, missed and misunderstood?', Probation Journal, Volume 58 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
A report examined the implications of a 'children's rights approach' to the family and to juvenile justice. It said that such an approach was the surest way of meeting children's needs and transforming their social and political status.
Source: Carolyne Willow, Doing Right by Children: Making a reality of children s rights in the family and juvenile justice, Children's Rights Alliance for England
Links: Report | CRAE press release
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined the links between inequality in academic performance and juvenile conviction rates for various types of crime. Above and beyond the effects of absolute access to resources, young people who grew up in school cohorts marked by higher levels of disparity in educational achievement might be more prone to commit violent crime and racially motivated offences than those with less disparity: but this association was not found for property-related offences.
Source: Ricardo Sabates, Leon Feinstein, and Anirudh Shingal, 'Inequality in academic performance and juvenile convictions: an area-based analysis', British Journal of Educational Studies, Volume 59 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
The prisons inspectorate for England and Wales examined resettlement provision for sentenced young men aged 15-18 in young offender institutions. More than two-thirds did not have adequate accommodation and/or education, training or employment in place on their release, hampering their rehabilitation and increasing the likelihood of reoffending.
Source: Resettlement Provision for Children and Young People: Accommodation and education, training and employment, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales
Links: Report | Out of Trouble press release
Date: 2011-Jun
The children's watchdog for England made a series of recommendations designed to protect the rights and emotional well-being of children and young people in custody. Children who offended should be accommodated in small living units with a sufficient number of skilled and trained staff to meet their emotional and mental health needs.
Source: 'I Think I Must Have Been Born Bad': Emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people in the youth justice system, Office of the Children's Commissioner
Links: Report | OCC press release | Out of Trouble press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jun
Researchers examined a programme designed to ensure that young people in receipt of an anti-social behaviour order were provided with appropriate support.
Source: Alan Mackie, Jack Cattell, Matt Hopkins, and Lucy Bunting, with Tony Munton, Evaluation of the Challenge and Support Programme, Research Report RR138, Department for Education
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined the effectiveness of a community-based intervention scheme run in association with a professional football club, designed to raise the aspirations of the young people from deprived backgrounds and divert them away from crime and anti-social behaviour.
Source: Ruth Rogers, 'Evaluating community-based interventions for young people: measuring the impact of informal mentoring', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 19 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
A report highlighted the problem of abusive restraint in child custody. It said that methods of restraint that relied on the deliberate infliction of pain should be prohibited in all settings.
Source: Use of Force on Children in Custody, Children's Rights Alliance for England
Links: Report | CRAE press release
Date: 2011-May
Researchers reviewed strategies designed to reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour. There was evidence that programmes that employed a multi-modal design, where a broad range of interventions were applied attending to a multitude of different risk factors, were more effective than others.
Source: Andy Ross, Kathryn Duckworth, David Smith, Gill Wyness, and Ingrid Schoon, Prevention and Reduction: A review of strategies for intervening early to prevent or reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour, Research Report RR111, Department for Education
Links: Report | Appendix | Brief
Date: 2011-May
The prisons inspectorate said that there was a lack of effective support for looked-after children in custody in England and Wales.
Source: The Care of Looked After Children in Custody: A short thematic review, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales
Links: Report | HCI Prisons press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-May
A report examined impact measurement in the youth justice voluntary sector. The major problem facing youth justice charities was how to gather information on reoffending. Data was held by statutory bodies such as the police: but it was notoriously hard to access, and many charities did not have the systems in place to track young people themselves.
Source: Camilla Nevill and Tris Lumley, Impact Measurement in the Youth Justice Sector, New Philanthropy Capital
Links: Report | Civil Society report
Date: 2011-May
Researchers evaluated intensive intervention projects designed to turn around the lives of the most challenging and problematic young people aged 8-19, through addressing a range of risk factors using a contractual approach that combined support and sanction. In two-thirds of the case studies, 'hard' transformative outcomes were achieved, including cessations or reductions in offending or anti-social behaviour and improvements in education. A linked report provides basic descriptive statistics gathered from the monitoring activities.
Source: John Flint et al., Evaluation of Intensive Intervention Projects, Research Report RR113, Department for Education | Cheryl Lloyd, Sally Gowland, Ola Turczuk, and Clarissa White, Monitoring and Evaluation of Intensive Intervention Projects for Young People, Research Report RR112, Department for Education
Links: Report 113 | Annex A | Annex B | Brief 113 | Report 112 | Brief 112 | Catch22 press release
Date: 2011-May
A study found that a specialist family drug and alcohol court had been successful in improving outcomes for children by tackling the substance misuse of parents at an early stage of care proceedings.
Source: Judith Harwin et al., The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) Evaluation Project: Final Report, Brunel University
Links: Report | Summary | Nuffield Foundation press release | Community Care report
Date: 2011-May
A literature review examined maturity, young adults, and the criminal justice system. The focus of the review was on young adults aged 18-24 in relation to three major bodies of literature – neurological, psychological, and criminological. There was 'strong evidence' that, from a neurological perspective, the human brain was not fully developed in its capacity for cognitive functioning and emotional regulation until well into the period of young adulthood.
Source: David Prior et al., Maturity, Young Adults and Criminal Justice: A literature review, Transition to Adulthood Alliance
Links: Report
Date: 2011-May
A report said that anti-social behaviour services for under-18s should be managed by children's services departments. This would ensure that vulnerable young people subject to anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) – which might include looked-after children and children with learning disabilities or mental health problems – were identified and given more help to comply with the terms of their orders.
Source: Di Hart, Into the Breach: The enforcement of statutory orders in the youth justice system, Prison Reform Trust
Links: Report | PRT press release | Out of Trouble press release | Community Care report
Date: 2011-May
Researchers examined the second phase (2009-2010) of a programme aimed at reducing serious violence involving young people aged 13-24 (following an earlier phase targeting knife crime). They concluded that there was no clear evidence that the programme had been effective in reducing crime.
Source: Liz Ward, Sian Nicholas, and Maria Willoughby, An Assessment of the Tackling Knives and Serious Youth Violence Action Programme (TKAP): Phase II, Research Report 53, Home Office
Links: Report | Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2011-May
A report examined children s attitudes to the police, together with their experience of bullying, crime prevention behaviours, hanging around in public spaces, and access to leisure activities.
Source: Jacqueline Hoare et al., Children's Experience and Attitudes Towards the Police, Personal Safety and Public Spaces: Findings from the 2009/10 British Crime Survey interviews with children aged 10 to 15, Statistical Bulletin 08/11, Home Office
Links: Bulletin | Home Office press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-May
The government announced that responsibility for commissioning health services in England for children and young people in secure children's homes and secure training centres was to pass to the National Health Service (in line with arrangements for young offender institutions). It said that the change was designed to ensure that those concerned, who often had complex needs, benefited from high-quality healthcare.
Source: Press release 27 May 2011, Department of Health
Links: DH press release
Date: 2011-May
An article examined how young people with anti-social behaviour orders experienced them. Contrary to populist notions, participants took them very seriously, revealing themselves as involved in an ongoing process of compliance and defiance in relation to the terms of their orders.
Source: Kate Brown, 'Beyond "badges of honour": young people s perceptions of their anti-social behaviour orders', People, Place & Policy, Volume 5 Issue 1
Links: Article
Date: 2011-Apr
A new book examined youth gangs and the linked issues of urban youth identities, crime, and social order.
Source: Barry Goldson (ed.), Youth in Crisis? 'Gangs', territoriality and violence, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Apr
A new book examined youth crime and justice. It considered an alternative strategy for resolving the tensions between young people – especially those on and beyond the margins – and the social world that framed their lives.
Source: Roger Smith, Doing Justice to Young People: Youth crime and social justice, Willan Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Apr
A report said that sport could be a powerful tool for tackling the problem of youth crime and anti-social behaviour, and could be more cost-effective than traditional approaches.
Source: Teenage Kicks: The value of sport in tackling youth crime, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation
Links: Report | NPC press release
Date: 2011-Mar
A study examined the views, experiences, and suggestions of young people within the secure estate on safeguarding issues. The children's rights watchdog announced (based on the study findings) that the routine use of full searches would stop across the secure estate; that there would be a review of the criteria used to separate young people in custody to manage problems that arose; that complaints would be handled more fairly and effectively; and that work would be undertaken to improve young people's access to helpline services.
Source: User Voice, Young People's Views on Safeguarding in the Secure Estate, Office of the Children's Commissioner/Youth Justice Board | Press release 1 March 2011, Office of the Children's Commissioner
Links: Report | OCC press release | YJB press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined the take-up of legal advice by children and young people in police stations in England and Wales. There were wide variations in the extent to which juveniles requested and received legal advice compared with adults – but also between juveniles of different ages.
Source: Vicky Kemp, Pascoe Pleasence, and Nigel Balmer, 'Children, young people and requests for police station legal advice: 25 years on from PACE', Youth Justice, Volume 11 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
The probation inspectorate provided aggregate findings across four English regions and Wales on key aspects of youth offending work by youth offending teams (YOTs). 'Much sound work' was being undertaken with young people who had offended: but there was scope for further improvement, among other things in public protection work, in a number of YOTs.
Source: Core Case Inspections of Youth Offending Work, HM Chief Inspector of Probation
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined education for young people under 18 in secure institutions in England. Interpretations of education had become overly narrow in criminal justice policy and practice: further consideration needed to be given to the impact of penal reform agendas that limited the conceptual reach and delivery of education in secure institutions.
Source: Caroline Lanskey, 'Promise or compromise? Education for young people in secure institutions in England', Youth Justice, Volume 11 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
A briefing paper examined the problem of youth crime, and policy responses to it.
Source: Gabrielle Garton Grimwood and Pat Strickland, Young Offenders: What Next?, Standard Note SN/HA/5896, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Mar
A project examined the impact of serious youth violence, gangs, and serious group offending on women and girls; and the response to it by organizations representing black and minority-ethnic women, organizations representing women as a whole, and the wider third sector. Women and girls experienced sexual violence, manipulation, and intimidation through their association with family members, loved ones, and peer groups.
Source: Carlene Firmin, This Is It. This Is My Life...: Female Voice in Violence Project – Final report, Race on the Agenda
Links: Report | ROTA press release | Catch22 press release
Date: 2011-Mar
An article critically examined the report of the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour (published in 2010). Although endorsing the Commission's call for change, the article questioned its 'alternative' vision.
Source: Barry Goldson, '"Time for a Fresh Start", but is this it? A critical assessment of the report of the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour', Youth Justice, Volume 11 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Notes: Commission Report (July 2010)
Date: 2011-Mar
A joint inspectorate report in Wales said that youth offending services had improved: but that further work was needed to address inconsistencies.
Source: Joint Review of Youth Offending Services (YOSs), HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales/Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales/Healthcare Inspectorate Wales
Links: Report | HMCIETW press release
Date: 2011-Feb
A report said that children in England as young as 13 were being released from custody into unsuitable and unsafe housing, leaving them vulnerable to reoffending at huge cost to themselves, society, and the government. A young person caught in a cycle of homelessness and reoffending could cost the government as much as £116,094 over three years – but if they received the necessary support there could be savings of £67,000 per child.
Source: Jane Glover and Naomi Clewett, No Fixed Abode: The housing struggle for young people leaving custody in England, Barnardo's
Links: Report | Barnardos press release | BBC report | Children & Young People Now report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-Feb
A paper examined emerging opportunities to develop better approaches and services for children and young people who were in contact with the youth justice system, and who had complex health needs and vulnerabilities.
Source: New Responses to Vulnerable Children in Trouble: Improving youth justice, National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Feb
A new book examined the theory and practice of assessment and intervention planning with young people who offend.
Source: Kerry Baker, Gill Kelly, and Bernadette Wilkinson, Assessment in Youth Justice, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Feb
A report by a committee of MPs said that the Youth Justice Board had been effective in leading reform within the youth justice system, and in diverting resources to the offenders who were most at risk of committing future crimes. It expressed concern that the coalition government's planned abolition of the Board could damage the prospects for further progress.
Source: The Youth Justice System in England and Wales: Reducing offending by young people, Twenty-first Report (Session 2010-11), HC 721, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2011-Feb
A report said that young offenders facing prosecution should be dealt with by restorative community conferences instead of traditional youth courts. Based on an international comparison of responses to offending by children and young people, it concluded that restorative justice conferences would be likely to reduce reoffending, improve victims' confidence, and result in considerable savings in court time and the costs of custody.
Source: Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour, Time for a New Hearing: A comparative study of alternative criminal proceedings for children and young people, JUSTICE/Police Foundation
Links: Report | Nuffield Foundation press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2011-Jan
A study examined why children became involved in gangs. Boredom, fear, and the status that came with gang membership were among the reasons why children aged 10-14 got involved.
Source: Qa Research, Children and Gangs, Children & Young People Now
Links: Report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2011-Jan
A report called for the establishment of an integrated range of services for local young offenders on a single campus – before, during, and after custodial and/or community sentences. This would improve reconviction rates in the interests of victims of crime and community safety, as well as reducing the youth custody population and cutting the waste of public funds.
Source: Secure Foundation: Young offenders academy – Towards a pathfinder, Foyer Federation
Links: Report | Foyer Federation press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2011-Jan
A report examined how well the police service in Northern Ireland met its human rights obligations when it worked with children and young people.
Source: Human Rights Thematic Review: Children & Young People, Northern Ireland Policing Board
Links: Report | Summary | NIPB press release
Date: 2011-Jan
An article examined the extent of differences in youth justice in the United Kingdom, particularly as expressed in the action plans, criminal justice reviews, frameworks for action, delivery plans, and offending strategies that had been published since 1998 in the four administrations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Source: John Muncie, 'Illusions of difference: comparative youth justice in the devolved United Kingdom', British Journal of Criminology, Volume 51 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan
An article examined the use of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) in relation to young people with learning disabilities.
Source: Rachel Fyson and Joe Yates, 'Anti-social behaviour orders and young people with learning disabilities', Critical Social Policy, Volume 31 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan