Youth Justice: Ideas, Policy, Practice

Youth Justice: ideas, policy, practice goes on to offer a critique of recent developments, arguing that failings of policy, structures and delivery mechanisms have had a cumulative effect, leading to an excessive use of intrusive and punitive measures at all levels of the youth justice system. The book also explores the options open to practitioners and service providers, and some of the possibilities for positive intervention. Finally, it sets out an alternative vision for the way in which crimes by young people are dealt with, linking principles, policy and practice, with the explicit aim of restoring liberal, humane and progressive ideals to the heart of the youth justice system.

Youth justice in Wales, because of its increasing reliance on punitive means of control, is "producing ever more expensive, irrational, and counter-productive outcomes," according to Smith (social work, U. of Leicester, UK). He examines the recent history of the system, arguing that the accession of a Labour government to power and the reform program capped by the Crime and Disorder Act of 1998 in fact only accelerated the unnecessary use of custody in the name of efficiency. He then puts forward proposals for a more progressive policy and practice that take into consideration the concerns of "stakeholders" including victims, young people, and ethnic minorities. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Roger Smith is Professor of Social Work Research at De Montfort University, UK.