Youth Offending and Youth Justice, Monica Barry and Fergus McNeill (eds), London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009, pp. 208, ISBN 978 18431 06890 (pbk), 19.99

Abstract

The editors of this volume, which is part of the Research Highlights in Social Work series, are rather apologetic about the timing, tone and trajectory of the book. They shouldn't be. This is an excellent text in every possible regard. The book is in two parts. The first is concerned with the social, theoretical and political contexts surrounding youth offending and youth justice. The second focuses on the more practical issues relating to working with young offenders. After an opening introductory salvo from the editors, the second chapter by Sheila Brown is an angry discussion of the symbolic construction of youth crime and the subsequent ‘legislative binge’ that has accompanied it. Chapter Three is an interesting exploration by Susan McVie of the complexity surrounding the ‘age–crime curve’ and the problematic use of prediction that policy makers attribute to it. Chapter Four is a measured piece by Rod Morgan (former chair of the Youth Justice Board) on the meaning of criminalisation and the punishment that follows such interpretations and the subsequent impact on children and the effectiveness of such punishments. In Chapter Five, Monica Barry explores the concept of desistance in a simple, yet clever and informed manner, arguing that it can only be understood as a dual process of agency and structure. Parts of Chapter Six by Shadd Maruna and Anna King have been published previously but the arguments presented are not diminished by a second telling. They question how and indeed why public opinion is constructed the way it is regarding young people and criminality.