NCJ Number
216893
Date Published
2006
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines whether statistics can be relied upon to provide an objective account of youth crime, yet, it also acknowledges that certain trends may be discernible in the data.
Abstract
Criminal statistics cannot provide a true picture of young people’s offending, but to completely disregard their significance on that basis would be unwise. Asking the right questions, while recognizing the limitations of the data, has the potential to generate an important body of knowledge with which to inform youth justice policy. There is no shortage of data on crime in England and Wales. Any analysis of recent trends in youth justice has plenty of statistical information on which to draw, but there is a problem of interpretation. The data do not in themselves tell an unambiguous story; they can be read in various ways. Statistical analysis can promote responses that impinge on children who break the law in a direct fashion. This chapter discusses the difficulties involved with reading and interpreting statistical evidence and the associated complexities of determining fact and truth. The chapter argues that asking the right questions of the data serves to generate an important body of knowledge and this in turn raises further questions with regard to the legitimacy of the more interventionist and expansionist elements of contemporary youth justice. References