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Book Review: Youth Offending and Youth Justice
Review of
Youth Offending and Youth Justice
The book,
Youth Offending and Youth Justice (Barry & McNeill, 2009), is about how youth justice systems manage juveniles who break the law. The book itself is not a manual that simply provide a roadmap of how things should be done. Instead, the authors look at the bigger picture of youth justice. The social problems, policies involved, and stigma from public opinion. They then connect everything that works and is applicable to what front line workers deal with. The book covers two main points. The first part talks about youth crime trends, how juveniles end up in the system and how people and politics and what people affect policies and procedures. The second part covers practical stuff like risk assessments, supervision, custody, and agency collaboration.
Youth Offending and Youth Justice has many viewpoints that come together to show how complex the juvenile justice system is when it comes to helping and controlling.
Main Ideas and Arguments
The books first main part explains youth crime as a whole concept. Things that are looked at include poverty, problems at schools and family issues. Also how media and public opinion can cause lawmakers to have a tougher outcome towards juveniles. The second part of the book looks at Juvenile Justice practices. Focusing on policies, statistics like risk assessments and personnel issues with supervision, custody, and agencies working together. The main ideas are that juveniles do not simply stay in the justice cycle. Juveniles grow up and most learn from the experience when they have support and opportunities. However, juveniles that reoffend and tend to be labeled and stay in the justice system when the systems rely too heavily on punishment. The authors write that Juvenile Justice works best when a balance is achieved between fairness and accountability. This is achieved when the adults working with juveniles are able to treat the juvenile in a manner that allowes them to believe that they can change and are not just a stat that needs to be controlled. (Barry & McNeill, 2009).
Contribution to Criminal Justice
Youth Offending and
Youth Justice
is not just a single individuals opinion. The book is a collective work that incorporates research along with personal experiences. This allows for views that stem from practical application to help explain why and how juvenile justice works and why “tough on crime” is not always the best answer (Barry & McNeill, 2009; Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research [SCCJR], 2009). The books point of “desistance”, focusing on youths ability to want to do better, pushes the reader to not just look at statistics. The book links the importance of juviniles being treated fairly to the outcome of doing better and not becoming just an offender. This concept also pushes those to look at what is right and fair not just what works or looks good on paper. If an agency rewards paperwork, speed, and enforcement over trust and relationships, it makes it harder for staff to do any kind of work that actually helps juvinels change (Paylor, 2010).
Author Credibility
Monica Barry and Fergus McNeill are known researchers in the youth and community justice fields. Their work with the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Resarch and social work education make their work in the book and field credible (SCCJR, 2009). The book being an edited collaboration gives depth to the work and contributions. Different chapters speak of different methods of studies some of which are long-term and others that focus on case studies or interviews. This allows for various views in the field of juvenile justice instead of just one.
Relevancy
While
Youth Offending and Youth Justice was published in 2009 it is still applicable to juvenile justice today. Youth justice systems are still dealing with the same issues. Finding the balance of how to punish juveniles. How to handle serious crimes involving juveniles and keeping the public safe and satisfied, all while allowing juveniles to grow and respecting what rights they do have. There are lessons to be learned from the book. As justice systems go, sometimes “helping” is used to justify more control like monitoring and taking into custody. McNeill argues supervision should be built on fairness, respect, and relationships, not just rule enforcement and paperwork, which affects how managers train and evaluate staff (Barry & McNeill, 2009). The book also shows how media and public pressure can contribute to bad procedures and policies as well as the impact that detention centers can have on juveniles. The authors suggest that money should be put into options that could help juveniles develop rather than just locking them up (Barry & McNeill, 2009).
Limitation and Gaps
A limitation to the book
Youth Offending and Youth Justice, is that the book came out in 2009. There are newer ideas now like “child-first” youth justice and trauma informed care. The book does not take a deep look into race, gender, ethnicity or, immigration status as factors of those that end up in the juvenile justice systems. Since the book came out some laws and statistics are outdated. The main point still stands of the book are still present, systems should not over criminalize or over punish juveniles. It should focus on fair treatment.
Conclusion
Youth Offending and Youth Justice is an easy to understand book that uses both research and practices to show how juvenile justice is looked at and shaped by social conditions and not just juvenile mindset. The book has a focus on desistance, how juvenile stop offending. The points to take away from the book are that juvenile justice should not just be about statistics, policies and punishments. There should be thoughtful analysis of over criminalizing juveniles and a lean towards supportive relationships that allow juveniles a fair and real chance to change and grow.
References
Barry, M., & McNeill, F. (Eds.). (2009). Youth offending and youth justice. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Paylor, I. (2010). Youth offending and youth justice [Review of the book Youth offending and youth justice, edited by M. Barry & F. McNeill]. British Journal of Social Work, 40(1), 340–342.
Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. (2009). Youth offending and youth justice (Briefing 2009/02).
