Young women in transition : from offending to desistance

The fact that offending behaviour is primarily the preserve of youth has challenged criminologists for the best part of a century to date and will no doubt continue to do so. Burt's (1925) medical-psychological study initiated a wave of positivist research that made young people 'the hapless population upon which much of the emphasis of 'scientific criminology' and 'administrative criminology' was to come to rest' (quoted in Brown: 2005: 29). Children and young people have been set apart from adults by dint of their age and status rather than their capacities and competences (Archard, 1993; Franklin, 2002). There are special measures in place to protect them from harm (whether this be self-inflicted or imposed by others), they are herded into institutionalised educational establishments from the age of five purportedly to improve their life chances, and they can be denied access to opportunities afforded 'adults' in mainstream society until they are well into their twenties. They are the main focus of criminal enquiry and their behaviour is often seen as abnormal, rebellious or pathological rather than a manifestation of the power imbalances inherent in society. This chapter argues, however, that young people strive towards conventionality and integration (MacDonald, 1997; Williamson, 1995), albeit often held back by the attitudes and practices of adults which can be both discriminating and disempowering (Barry, 2005)

'I realised that I wasn't alone' : the views and experiences of young carers from a social capital perspective

The concept of social capital is very much an 'adult' concept, created by adults for adults, with children as the passive recipients of, primarily, parental social capital. The concept has been broken down into three particular subcategories - bonding (getting by), bridging (getting on) and linking (getting around). However, these subcategories equally do not relate readily to children and young people nor to different groups of young people. Young carers, for example, are a hidden population and their circumstances are relatively unknown, not least in terms of their social networks and access to social capital within the confines of their caring role. This article draws on a research study of 20 young carers in Scotland to explore the views and experiences of this particular group about their social networks and experiences of relationships with others, such as the family, friends and teachers. It concludes that young carers tend to keep their friends, family, and community networks separate from each other, and coupled with their perceived resilience and desire for self-sufficiency, this separation and protection of their individual social networks may result in reduced access to social capital in terms of getting on rather than getting by

Social capital in the lives of young carers

The research sought to answer the following research questions: to what extent do different forms of social capital impact on current and future opportunities for young carers; to what extent can various agencies and significant others (including teachers, young carers' projects and friends) help young carers to identify and build on the types of social capital they identify as important to them

Promoting desistance amongst young people

The handbook aims to encourage a critical interrogation of the ideas that underpin practice, examining such concepts as 'child development', 'crime' and 'punishment', and also provides a descriptive account of current practice in areas such as community corrections and incarceration - examining the evidence base for this and suggesting alternative strategies where appropriate. A key objective is to provide both students and practitioners in youth justice with the confidence to critically reflect on the ideas and current debates that influence work undertaken with young people

Youth transitions : from offending to desistance

This article examines youth transitions and youth offending in tandem. It argues that the transition to adulthood is heavily implicated in the fact that most offending occurs in the youth phase. Drawing on a study of 20 male and 20 female persistent young offenders in Scotland, it explores young people's desire for integration with others in the transition phases - with their families in childhood, with their friends in youth and with the wider society in adulthood. During the youth phase, much of that integration comes from offending itself, whereas when more legitimate opportunities and sources of recognition are offered to them in early adulthood, desistance is more likely to occur

Good practice in projects working with prisoners' families

The value of addressing the root causes of offending and understanding factors which encourage desistance from crime is becoming all the more apparent amongst policy makers, practitioners and academics alike. Positive family ties, not least those which can be maintained whilst someone is in prison, strengthen family relationships and the likelihood of reduced offending on release, but also improve relationships between prisoners and prison staff (Loucks, 2004). However, whilst a growing body of academic and policy literature relating to imprisonment focuses on the value of working with prisoners' families as a means of encouraging longer-term desistance for the prisoner, it often fails to highlight the inherent need of agencies to address the shorter-term problems facing families themselves where one member is incarcerated. This latter gap in addressing the needs of families of prisoners which are 'imprisonment-related' can be most readily addressed by the presence of visitor centres at prisons (Loucks, 2002; 2004). Research in California suggested that visitor centres often provide the only means of support and encouragement to prisoners families (Loucks, 2004). Nacro (2000) found that families of prisoners are highly unlikely to seek such support within their own communities and that visitor centres are not only readily accessible during visiting times for families potentially needing support, but also provide a means for community-based agencies to engage with this otherwise 'difficult to reach' group

Youth justice policy and its influence on desistance from crime

Tackling youth crime has become a prime concern of Government policy relating to children and young people. However, the arena in which such policy is played out remains predominantly within the confines of the youth justice system rather than in wider policy initiatives. As has been seen in other chapters in this book, this has resulted in the increasing criminalisation and stigmatisation of young people, with less emphasis on their status as'troubled' and more emphasis on their label as'troublesome'. Although only a small minority of young people offend with any conviction, in both senses of the word, these young people are seen to justify the majority of youth justice funding, policy and practice initiatives

Youth offending and youth transitions : the power of capital in influencing change

Neither the literature on offending nor that on desistance adequately explains the short-term nature of youth offending, young people's propensity to desist from offending as they reach early adulthood and the importance of youth transitions in helping or hindering young people's access to legitimate and conventional opportunities and responsibilities. It is suggested in this article that the three phases of offending - onset, maintenance and desistance - run parallel courses with the three phases of youth transitions -childhood, youth and adulthood and that both these processes are influenced by discrepancies in levels of capital for young people at each stage. In a recent Scottish study of desistance, Bourdieu's concepts of capital are used to demonstrate the commonalities between youth offending and youth transitions and to better understand young people's search for integration and recognition - whether this be through offending or conventionality. The article concludes that the concepts of capital and youth transitions could both be employed more usefully in the field of criminology to explain the transient nature of offending in youth and the greater likelihood of desistance once legitimate and sustainable opportunities are found to spend as well as to accumulate capital in early adulthood

Youth custody in Scotland : rates, trends and drivers

The upward trend in youth custody rates across the UK has led the Prison Reform Trust, with support from The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, to identify the drivers to youth custody and to reduce the overall numbers of children and young people in prison or secure settings. The Trust's concerns rest on the following facts: imprisoning children is harsh and ineffective; children can suffer mental health problems as a result of being deprived of their liberty and having limited contact with family and friends; the incarceration of children is not cost-effective; custody exacerbates rather than reduces youth crime (Prison Reform Trust/ SmartJustice, 2008). Two studies have been undertaken in England and Wales to date as a result of this campaign (Gibbs and Hickson, 2009; Prison Reform Trust/SmartJustice, 2008). The Prison Reform Trust now wants to explore youth custody rates, trends and drivers in Scotland, with a view to reducing numbers of children and young people held in custody north of the Border. This review therefore gives some key statistics on youth custody rates and trends and explores the drivers to changes in those rates over time. The review identifies four key drivers: a) increasingly stringent requirements imposed on children and young people who offend; b) the increased use of remand; c) shorter prison sentences with little scope for rehabilitation; and d) the earlier criminalisation of children and young people. Reducing child imprisonment requires attention to all four of these factors which interact in different ways and at different times, depending on policy, practice and public concerns

Serious violent offenders : developing a risk assessment framework

In order to establish a complementary language of risk across all agencies, it is recommended that the Scottish Government and the Risk Management Authority actively disseminate MAPPA guidance through the RMA's specialist training programme and through the development of protocols and memoranda of agreement. Prior to a violent offender framework being implemented, an audit of existing numbers, staffing, budgetary and other resources should be undertaken across the Community Justice Authorities to ascertain projected needs