Youth Justice in Context

Drawing on the international literature and original empirical research from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, 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.

Mairead 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.