Welfare versus punishment?: The careers of young offenders with a background in public care.

Evans, Jonathan Wynne. 2006. Welfare versus punishment?: The careers of young offenders with a background in public care. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.

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Abstract

Young people with a background in public care are over-represented in the criminal justice system. The subject of the thesis concerns the relationship between these two systems. The main focus of this qualitative piece of research is an analysis of the cases of thirty young people who have had experience of both systems. Conducted on the site of a Welsh Social Services Youth Justice Team that - during the course of the fieldwork - was reconfigured as a Youth Offending Team, the research was guided by three related questions. Firstly, what was the nature of the relationship between the public care system and the criminal justice system? Secondly, how did such discourses as 'welfare' and 'punishment' influence what happened to young people with care backgrounds in the youth justice system? Thirdly, how did the youth justice reforms of the 1997-2001 Labour government impact on practice at ground level? These questions were addressed by a combination of methods: semi-structured interviews with young people, parents and practitioners; focus groups with professional staff; observation; and analysis of case files and other agency documents. The analysis identified a number of social and institutional processes that criminalised children in public care and accelerated their 'progress' through the criminal justice system.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
ISBN:	9781303182631
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	18 Jul 2024 15:40
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/54336

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