Abstract
Prominently placed over the main entrance to the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey, an edict in stone exhorts us to ‘Defend the children of the poor and punish the wrongdoer’. In practice, rather more energy is devoted to castigating children’s wrongdoings and extending the range of penalties to deal with them. The pre-eminent crime problem is ‘teenage lawlessness’; the archetypal problematic offender is the ‘rampant’, even feral, young lower social class male. Some children have attracted such personal notoriety that they have acquired contemporary folk devil status as ‘spiderboy’, ‘ratboy’ and ‘safari boy’. This preoccupation is reflected in criminological theory and research. As Coleman and Moynihan (1996:92) remark:
Keywords
Juvenile Justice Restorative Justice Juvenile Justice System Juvenile Court Young OffenderPreview
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Further reading
- Ashford, M. and Chard, A. (1997) Defending Young People in the Criminal Justice System (London: Legal Action Group).Google Scholar
- Although addressed primarily at lawyers, this book offers a comprehensive and practical guide to law relating to youth justice, from the police station to the end of a custodial sentence.Google Scholar
- Graham, J. and Bowling, B. (1995) Young People and Crime , Research and Planning Unit Research Study No. 145 (London: Home Office).Google Scholar
- An empirical study of offending patterns among young people, emphasising factors that promote desistance from crime.Google Scholar
- Haines, K. and Drakeford, M. (1998) Young People and Youth Justice .(Basingstoke: Macmillan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- This provides a good overview of young people in society, youth and social policy and a recent history of juvenile justice, together with ways of managing youth justice systems and achieving effective work with young offenders within an overarching youth justice philosophy.Google Scholar
- Howard League (1994) The Howard League’s Good Practice Guide on Working with Young Offenders (London: Bellew Publishing).Google Scholar
- A handbook illustrating good imaginative practice in youth justice projects in England and Wales at all stages of the criminal justice system.Google Scholar