Lost in the Myths of Crime: The Use of Penal Custody for Male Juveniles, 1969 to 1993

Abstract

Abstract: This paper considers published material on the use of penal custody for male offenders aged 14 to 16 years in the period from implementation of the 1969 Children and Young Persons Act until the Home Secretary's 1993 announcement of a new provision of secure training orders. It is shown that the decline of residential care in the 1970s contributed to a dramatic increase in the use of penal custody, despite growing criticism of both the level of incarceration and the institutional regimes provided. The ‘tough’ approach of the incoming government in 1979 is shown to have led to a trend away from the use of detention centres, and subsequently to a more general decarceration, both of which were entirely contrary to expectations. The conclusion is offered that a ‘liberal’ policy may be possible only when governments are confident in their own strength and have no need to demonstrate their ‘toughness’.