The life course of delinquency: reflections on the meaning of trajectories, transitions and turning points in youth justice

ABSTRACT

This article challenges contemporary analyses of the nature of youth justice in England and Wales as partial and restricted in theoretical and conceptual terms. A life course perspective is adopted to examine the trajectory of youth justice as a dynamic artefact, constantly shaped by recurring, reconstructed and r/evolving contextual, thematic and stakeholder influences. A critical and thematic review of academic, government, policy and media literature using social construction as its analytical frame of reference in turn opens up the theoretical space to articulate an internally-coherent and nuanced framework for understanding the nature and development of youth justice past, present and future.

KEYWORDS:

• youth justice
• life course
• trajectories
• turning points
• transitions

Notes

1. An interaction of systemic, structural, strategic, processual, philosophical/principled, theoretical and practical understandings of and responses to offending by children and young people.

2. By this point, youth justice was a devolved political responsibility in both Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen Case

Professor Stephen Case is a criminologist and Head of the Social and Policy Studies Unit at Loughborough University, UK. His research and scholarship focus on the promotion of positive, ‘children first’, rights-based and anti-risk approaches to working with children in conflict with the law. In addition to over 50 academic journal articles, he has published numerous books including Youth Justice: A Critical Introduction (Case 2018 – Routledge), Positive Youth Justice: Children First, Offenders Second (Haines and Case 2015 – Policy Press) and Understanding Youth Offending: Risk Factor Research, Policy and Practice (Case and Haines 2009 – Routledge). His current research for the Leverhulme Trust examines the factors influencing communication effectiveness in youth justice assessment interviews.

Roger Smith

Professor Roger Smith is Professor of Social Work at Durham University, UK. In his early career he was a probation officer before moving into a senior policy role with a children’s organisation. His research interests include the sociology of childhood, social work and power, social work education, and youth crime and justice. His key publications include: Diversion in Youth Justice: What Can We Learn from Historical and Contemporary Practice? (2018) London, Routledge; Youth Justice: Ideas, Policy, Practice (2014), Abingdon, Routledge; A Universal Child? (2010) Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Professor Smith’s current research focuses models of practice in youth justice, social work and power, and experiences of youth custody.