NCJ Number
231255
Journal
Criminology & Criminal Justice Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2010 Pages: 179-209
Date Published
May 2010
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This article presents key findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime and examines the policy implications of these findings.
Abstract
Based on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, this article challenges the evidence-base which policymakers have drawn on to justify the evolving models of youth justice across the United Kingdom (both in Scotland and England/Wales). It argues that to deliver justice, systems need to address four key facts about youth crime: serious offending is linked to a broad range of vulnerabilities and social adversity; early identification of at-risk children is not an exact science and runs the risk of labeling and stigmatizing; pathways out of offending are facilitated or impeded by critical moments in the early teenage years, in particular school exclusion; and diversionary strategies facilitate the desistance process. The article concludes that the Scottish system should be better placed than most other Western systems to deliver justice for children (due to its founding commitment to decriminalization and destigmatization). However, as currently implemented, it appears to be failing many young people. Tables, notes, and references (Published Abstract)