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An Application of Foucauldian Concepts to Youth in the Criminal Justice System: A Case Study

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Abstract

In this paper, I examine the relationship between youth and the Canadian youth justice system within a Foucauldian framework. Of particular interest are the implications inherent in the interconnectedness of agencies and organizations of social control in the classification, detection, and treatment of youth in conflict with the law. I focus my analysis on the policies of one youth correctional facility located in the province of Saskatchewan to provide a practical application of Foucauldian theoretical concepts to an analysis of youth and formal social control.

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Correspondence to Lauren D. Eisler.

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Lauren Eisler completed her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Saskatchewan and is currently an Assistant Professor of Criminology at the Brantford campus of Wilfrid Laurier University. Her work focuses on the relationship between the institutional control of disadvantaged youth and the public constructions of youth culture as criminogenic. She has done extensive consulting work for government and community organizations in Canada.

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Eisler, L.D. An Application of Foucauldian Concepts to Youth in the Criminal Justice System: A Case Study. Crit Crim 15, 101–122 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-006-9019-8

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