NCJ Number
214083
Date Published
2005
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This chapter explores youth diversion and prevention trends in youth justice policy in England and Wales.
Abstract
Overall, the analysis indicates that the dominant philosophy of 20 years ago was to minimize the level of contact between youth offenders and the formal criminal justice system whereas now the emphasis has shifted to early and more extensive interventions. The authors argue for a return to a more hands-off approach to less serious and first-time youthful offenders while employing more robust interventions for serious and persistent young offenders. The authors begin with a review of the recent history of youth diversion and prevention, beginning with the expansion of the use of cautioning and community-based alternatives to formal sanctioning during the 1980s, commonly referred to as “intermediate treatment” (IT). Evidence on the effectiveness of cautioning suggests that it was relatively successful in reducing recidivism while the decline in the use of imprisonment indicated that IT served as an effective diversion to custody. During the 1990s a dramatic shift occurred in the climate of youth justice policy in England and Wales, which ushered in a new populist punitiveness that was greatly concerned with the threat posed by persistent young offenders. Thus, the diversionary emphasis of the 1980s gave way to an interventionist emphasis during the 1990s that included interest in restorative justice (RJ) practices and a range of non-custodial penalties, referred to as intermediate sanctions and community penalties. Targeted youth interventions that began emerging in the early 2000s in England and Wales are reviewed, including the Youth Inclusion Programme (YIP) which focuses on risk and protective factors and offers support for youth to overcome social problems. Community crime prevention efforts aimed at youth education, gang violence prevention, recreation programming, and mentoring also emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s as a set of programs to challenge youth to change their risky or offense conduct. Tables, figures, notes, references