My Story – witnessing narratives of childhood trauma and violence

Abstract

Children found responsible for serious violence make for high profile news stories. The news media give their cases plenty of space and attention and the stories dwell on the information made available through a criminal justice process that typically focuses on a key incident. Issues of individual responsibility are central to the court's decision making and the sentencing is regarded as the major output. In this way criminal justice is seen to provide the dominant legitimate response to the crisis that an incident of interpersonal violence has caused. Prominent media coverage of a case has the effect of giving massive social endorsement to the significance of the criminal justice process as the legitimate place of account for the event, and by default for the public understanding of such individuals. Typically the individuals then disappear from public view and enter the criminal justice system, stories about them remaining embalmed in the media record. As the criminal justice system continues to record information about their progress in custody, the verdict and sentence based on the court process become the dominant narrative, guiding subsequent decisions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roger Grimshaw

Dr Roger Grimshaw is Research Director at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies