1st Edition
Youth Justice in Context Community, Compliance and Young People
Youth Justice in Context examines the influence of legislative, organizational, policy and practice issues in shaping what constitutes compliance and how non-compliance is responded to when supervising young offenders in the community. It also addresses the impact of adolescent developmental immaturity and social and personal circumstances in mediating expectations of compliance.
A central concern of the book is to explore the manner in which compliance changes over time through the dynamics that arise in the supervisory relationship between practitioners and young people, and against the backdrop of the social and psychological changes that occur in adolescents’ lives as they move towards early adulthood. A detailed examination is provided based on the perspectives of probation and youth justice professionals operating across different organizational contexts, and of young people subject to community supervision. To this end, the book offers in-depth analysis on the strategies employed by practitioners in promoting compliance and responding to non-compliance. It also provides unique insights into young people’s perceptions of the supervision process, their motivations to comply, and their perspectives on desistance from offending.
This book offers an alternative perspective to policies and practices that focus primarily on stringent enforcement and control measures in responding to non-compliance. Youth Justice in Context is suited to academics, researchers, students, policy makers, social workers, probation officers, youth justice workers, social care workers and other practitioners working with young people in the criminal justice system.
1. Introduction 2. Responding to non-compliance with the requirements of community disposals 3. Compliance theory, research and practice 4. The context of community supervision: adolescent development and social circumstances 5. The social and criminal justice context of supervising young offenders 6. Constructing compliance on offender supervision 7. Promoting compliance and responding to non compliance 8. Young people's perspectives on the supervision process 9. Young people's perspectives on transition, change and desistance 10. Conclusion
Biography
Mairéad Seymour is a senior lecturer at the Dublin Institute of Technology. Her research interests include youth crime and justice, comparative youth justice, offender compliance and community sanctions.
"The importance of this book is undoubtedly young offenders’ views and experiences of compliance and non-compliance, views and experiences not peculiar to young people alone, nor to the Republic of Ireland alone, but relevant to all age groups and jurisdictions wishing to ensure the success of community-based disposals." —Monica Barry, The Howard Journal Vol 52 no 4. Sept 2013
