Youth Justice Reform Research Articles

An Exploration of Two Different Models of Leadership for Youth Justice Reform

Youth justice in Australia is at a crossroads. A series of recent reviews and inquiries have called for major reform of the sector and identified the need to develop and deliver new and different ways of working. And yet implementing change in youth justice has proven difficult, with an absence of strong and effective leadership identified as a particular issue that constrains progress. In this paper we describe two different models of public service leadership – a ‘transformational leadership’ approach that is widely used in healthcare, and a ‘coherence leadership’ approach developed specifically for use in education. We use these to illustrate how youth justice leaders and leadership teams might approach the task of conceptualizing and delivering an agenda for reform and continuous improvement. We conclude by arguing that it is only by adopting a strategic approach to organizational and cultural change that leaders will be able to successfully engage and equip the workforce to deliver effective justice services for children and young people across Australia and elsewhere.

Crime Prevention, Support or Punishment? Introducing an Ambiguous System of Youth Justice in Denmark

International research on youth justice systems has highlighted diversion as a key element in early crime prevention and deterrence. In Denmark, a youth justice reform was introduced in 2019 that restructured how the justice system responds to children and youths who are suspected or convicted of a crime. With the introduction of a Youth Crime Board (YCB) and a Youth Probation Service (YPS), the new reform aims to increase the speed and intensity of system responses to offences committed by children and youths. Based on legislation, policy papers, hearings on the new reform and the first evaluations of the reform, we analyse three key elements: the YCB, the sanctions and the YPS. We find that the 2019 youth justice reform constitutes an ambiguous system of youth justice with elements of diversion and punishment, and we argue that the reform integrates punitive elements into the delivery of treatment and support.

Revisiting the gap between ideals and realities within restorative justice: Experiences from the Norwegian youth justice reform

Revisiting the gap between ideals and realities within restorative justice: Experiences from the Norwegian youth justice reform

The case for small-scale, community-integrated, therapeutic facilities: Utility and feasibility for policy transfer to the Victorian youth justice system

Several jurisdictions around the world have recognised that meaningful youth justice reform is more likely to be achieved when moving away from the reliance on large-scale conventional youth justice detention institutions. Small-scale, community-integrated, therapeutic facilities (referred to as “community-integrated facilities”) are more likely to provide an opportunity to facilitate systemic reforms that are necessary to improve outcomes for justice-involved young people, reduce institutional violence, and ultimately improve public safety. Based on recent reforms in the Netherlands, this article aims to describe the potential benefits and feasibility of implementing community-integrated facilities with a specific focus on Victoria, Australia. We will do so by considering the key operational elements and facilitators to implementation as identified previously in an evaluation of the Dutch reforms. While this article involves a single specific context, as a case study it may nevertheless illuminate implications for other jurisdictions considering similar policy transfer activities.

Elite punitive populism and youth justice reform in Chile: Legitimizing a new political order

Elite punitive populism and youth justice reform in Chile: Legitimizing a new political order

Excavating Youth Justice Reform: Historical Mapping and Speculative Prospects

AbstractThis article analytically excavates youth justice reform (in England and Wales) by situating it in historical context, critically reviewing the competing rationales that underpin it and exploring the overarching social, economic, and political conditions within which it is framed. It advances an argument that the foundations of a recognisably modern youth justice system had been laid by the opening decade of the 20th Century and that youth justice reform in the post‐Second World War period has broadly been structured over four key phases. The core contention is that historical mapping facilitates an understanding of the unreconciled rationales and incoherent nature of youth justice reform to date, while also providing a speculative sense of future prospects.

The politics of youth justice reform in post-conflict societies: mainstreaming restorative justice in Northern Ireland and South Africa

Criminal justice reform plays a pivotal role in helping to foster reconciliation and peace-building in postconflict societies. In the wake of their respective political transitions, both Northern Ireland and South Africa have formulated proposals for reform of their youth justice systems based upon restorative principles. This article analyses the attempts to roll out these reforms in both jurisdictions. It considers why new youth justice arrangements have largely been well received in Northern Ireland, yet have struggled to be implemented successfully in South Africa and reflects on possible lessons to be learnt in the context of postconflict transformations.

Too Bad, So Sad: Observations on Key Outstanding Policy Challenges of Twenty Years of Youth Justice Reform in Canada, 1995-2015

Too Bad, So Sad: Observations on Key Outstanding Policy Challenges of Twenty Years of Youth Justice Reform in Canada, 1995-2015

Human rights and youth justice reform in England and Wales: A systemic analysis

This article examines critically the persistently antagonistic relationship – across the past quarter-century – between the provisions of international human rights instruments and the nature and direction of youth justice reform in England and Wales. It introduces the core provisions of the human rights framework that pertain to youth justice and it sketches the nature and direction of policy reform over the 25-year period under scrutiny (1991–2016). To obtain a comprehensive sense of the relationship between human rights and youth justice reform in the jurisdiction, it applies a detailed systemic analysis; beginning at the point at which criminal responsibility is formally imputed and progressing through each stage of the youth justice system, up to the point where the child might ultimately be deprived of her/his liberty. By taking a ‘long-view’ of youth justice reform and by adopting a systemic end-to-end analysis of the human rights–youth justice interface, the article presents an analytical account of both change (policy reforms) and continuity (the enduring nature of human rights violations).

Practice Notes: Understanding the purpose of youth justice in New Zealand

The administration of justice can become an arid procedural concern when practitioners lose sight of purpose. This article focuses on the purposes of the youth justice provisions of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989. After traversing New Zealand’s historical responses to children who offend and contrasting the conceptual underpinnings of those approaches with current legislation, the article identifies the three key aims of youth justice reform which took place during the late 1980s – providing due process guarantees; finding alternatives to enmeshing young people and their families in the formal criminal justice system; and promoting culturally respectful processes. The author argues that almost all of the procedures of the legislation link to one or other of these aims and by understanding these linkages, all youth justice practitioners – judges, legal advocates, coordinators, social workers, police and community service providers – can ensure the intentions of the law are not lost in the exigencies of the day-to-day activity. The article concludes by proposing that all youth justice practitioners, in addition to their role-specific functions, have a collective responsibility to ensure the mandate of the law is given effect.

Making the Fun Stop: Youth Justice Reform in Queensland

In 2013 the newly elected conservative Liberal National Party government instigated amendments to the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld). Boot camps replaced court ordered youth justice conferencing. In 2014 there were more drastic changes, including opening the Children’s Court proceedings to the public, permitting publication of identifying information of repeat offenders, removing the principle of ‘detention as a last resort’, facilitating prompt transferral of 17 year olds to adult prisons and instigating new bail offences and mandatory boot camp orders for recidivist motor vehicle offenders in Townsville. This article compares these amendments to the legislative frameworks in other jurisdictions and current social research. It argues that these amendments are out of step with national and international best practice benchmarks for youth justice. Early indications are that Indigenous children are now experiencing increased rates of unsentenced remand. The article argues that the government’s policy initiatives are resulting in negative outcomes and that early and extensive evaluations of these changes are essential.

Diverse Diversions: Youth Justice Reform, Localized Practices, and a ‘New Interventionist Diversion’?

The recent resurgence of practices aimed at ‘diverting’ young people from prosecution appears to suggest a sea change from the interventionism which characterized New Labour’s approach to young law-breakers. Drawing on interviews with youth justice practitioners at two sites in England, we argue this is overly simplistic, since the ‘interventionist diversion’ they describe reflects the continued influence of New Labour reforms, as well as older approaches. We conclude that more empirical research is needed to establish where such interventions sit within the broader – and increasingly localized – landscape of support provision, as well as the consequences of providing ‘welfare’ in this way.

Youth justice reform in the ‘big society’

This article examines some of the recent changes to youth justice, focusing in particular on the impact of the government's social justice and public sector reform programme upon those developments. The analysis is conducted within a children's rights framework; one which considers how well the reforms protect the criminal justice rights of the child (as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) and whether they promote government accountability to this vulnerable group of children. Given the government's emphasis on the importance of communities and on the renewal of democratic accountability, the article concludes with a discussion of the relationship between the public sector reforms, children's citizenship, and the reciprocity necessary in criminal responsibility.

Youth Justice Reform: Redressing Age Discrimination against Children?

This article considers whether the system of reprimands and final warnings in the youth justice system in England and Wales constitutes age discrimination for the purposes of human rights law. Whilst much youth justice discourse has addressed the use of diversionary measures that steer children away from formal justice processes, little attention has been paid to measures which negatively discriminate against children, in comparison to adults, without reasonable justification. The discussion contextualizes the issue within discourses on the sociology of childhood and youth justice, and considers why there is a general reluctance to recognize children as ‘victims’ of age discrimination.

Market pressures: youth justice reform in an age of austerity

PurposeThis purpose of this paper is to give the author's opinion regarding youth justice reform and austerity cuts.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explores current policies and legislation relating to the youth criminal justice system, the role of rehabilitation, prevention and restoration.FindingsThe conclusion to this piece is that, in the opinion of the author, youth justice reform is not succeeding under the current circumstances.Originality/valueThe paper takes many aspects into consideration to support the argument, including the Independent Commission on Youth Crime, current journalism and research on the subject and popular culture references.

Inside the Youth Justice Board: ambiguity and influence in New Labour's youth justice

PurposeThe Youth Justice Board (YJB) was established in 1998 as a central part of the Labour government's radical programme of youth justice reform. Yet while it has had a central role in directing the culture, organisation and activities of youth justice in England and Wales, it is poorly understood. As its future hangs in the balance, this paper seeks to draw on a unique empirical study of the operation of the YJB to explore what it is, what it does and why it is so difficult to describe.Design/methodology/approachThe research involved 18 months' ethnographic fieldwork. For one calendar year (2006‐2007), research focused on the internal operation of the YJB including observations of meetings, depth interviews and documentary analysis. A second strand of research explored the regional operation of the YJB. This involved observations of regional monitors and assessment processes and interviews and focus groups with Youth Offending Teams staff.FindingsThe research shows that the YJB is an inherently ambiguous organisation. This ambiguity has made it simultaneously highly insecure and extremely productive, enabling it to extend its influence and activities beyond those initially envisaged in New Labour's reforms. However, the difficulty in defining the YJB also suggests the full effect of its activities will only become clear once it has gone.Originality/valueWhile there has been much academic interest in the YJB, this research is the only empirical study of it. It, therefore gives a unique insight into the organisation and culture of the English and Welsh youth justice system.

Bringing the boys back home: youth justice reform from an unexpected quarter

John Pitts reports on recent developments in youth justice policy in the US. A task force is charged with transforming juvenile justice by looking at ways to strengthen alternatives to custody, improve residential care and enhance re‐entry programmes. Pitts looks forward to a more rational approach to policy‐making in the US.

Governing young people: Coherence and contradiction in contemporary youth justice

This article explores the burgeoning literature on modes and layers of governance and applies it to the complex of contemporary youth justice reform. Globalized neo-liberal processes of responsibilization and risk management coupled with traditional neo-conservative authoritarian strategies have dominated the political landscape. However, they also have to work alongside or within ‘new’ conceptions of social inclusion, partnership, restoration and moralization. These apparently contradictory strategies open up the possibility of multiple localized translations rather than an often assumed dominance of a uniform ‘culture of control’. The ensuing hybridity also suggests that any coherence within contemporary youth justice relies on continual negotiations between opposing, yet overlapping, discursive practices.

The Politicization of Youth Crime in Scotland and the Rise of the ‘Burberry Court’

In 2003, the youth justice system in Scotland entered a new phase with the introduction of a pilot youth court. The processing of persistent 16 and 17 year old (and serious 15 year olds) represented a stark deviation from a ‘child centred’ and needs-oriented state apparatus for dealing with young offenders to one based on deeds and individual responsibility. This article, based on an evaluation funded by the Scottish Executive, is the first to provide a critical appraisal of this youth justice reform. It examines the views of the judiciary and young offenders and reveals that the pilot youth court in Scotland represents a punitive excursion that poses serious concerns for due process, human rights and net widening.

Transformed Youth Justice?

Of the ten pledges offered by New Labour in their 1997 Election Manifesto, one concerned crime. It contained a specific youth justice commitment: ‘We will be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, and halve the time it takes persistent juvenile offenders to come to court’. In the 2001 Manifesto, Labour reported that they had substantially achieved this pledge: crime was falling and‘The time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders is down from 142 days to 89 days—on track to halve the time within the five years promised in 1997′. Youth justice had been reformed and the Government would move on: it would build on the youth justice reforms by tackling provision for 18- to 20-year-olds. This article addresses four issues: why did youth justice reform figure prominently in New Labour's 1997 plans; in what respects has the system of youth justice been reformed; have the reforms been a success; and what does the immediate future for youth justice hold?