Handbook

The course begins by analysing the historical development of both a system of juvenile justice and a system of ideas about juvenile delinquency as distinct entities separable from broader notions of criminality and criminal justice.  The development of a juvenile justice system has been paralleled by changing interpretations and explanations of juvenile behaviour.  The course provides an introduction to this history before analysing the contemporary nature of juvenile crime and the juvenile justice system in NSW.  Specific issues in relation to policing, community-based corrections and detention centres will be discussed.

The course will investigate the social relations which mediate between the juvenile justice system and the young people who are brought before it by focussing on gender, race and class.  It will also examine the broader political determinants surrounding the operation of the juvenile justice system and moral panics in relation to juvenile offending.

Main Topics

• The historical origins and contemporary manifestations of discrete juvenile/youth justice systems will be examined
• The true nature and extent of youth offending
• The multiple competing imperatives that comprise youth justice law, policy and practice
• The module will be underpinned by comparative analyses at local, national and transnational levels