Challenging Historical Populism—Children First, Offenders Second: From Concept to Policy

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the genesis, development and implementation of a Children First, Offender Second approach to engaging with children who come into conflict with the law, with a particular focus on Wales—the birthplace of Children First. The chapter starts back in the 1990s and the regressive, repressive and anti-child movement that sprang from the Labour Government of the time and the office of the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw. We show how Children First, Offenders Second (CFOS) was both a reaction to the offence and offender focus of Labour policies towards the treatment of children and, at the same time, an attempt to chart a positive and progressive way forward for those charged with working with children in conflict with the law and the children themselves. We then explore how, over time, the evidence base for CFOS was constructed. In doing this, we pay particular attention to the links between academia and those in policy development and implementation roles. We link developments in Wales to those that have taken place in England—at the level of local Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) and the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB)—including such milestones as Tory Ministers referring no longer to young offenders but children, concluding with the adoption of CFOS (or Child First) as the main driver of official policy of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. The chapter begins with an account of the development of CFOS from an academic/research perspective (written by Haines), moves on to explore how CFOS influenced the development of youth justice policy (written by Thomas) and concludes with Haines leading the discussion about the future for Child First.