Re-Imagining Juvenile Justice

Tracing lessons from history and drawing on debates of social harm; public health; reductionist and abolitionist perspectives; and comparative and transnational research, Goldson articulates the content and shape of a re-imagined juvenile justice that is theoretically informed, based on evidence and compliant with human rights.

---

Re-imagining Juvenile Justice explores major concepts, issues, debates and controversies in the field of juvenile justice both nationally and internationally. It seeks to fundamentally reconceptualise or, as the title implies, ‘re-imagine’ juvenile justice.

The book historicises contemporary juvenile justice before engaging a dispassionate and objective analysis of juvenile ‘crime’ in the modern age. Social harm and public health perspectives are applied both to contextualise juvenile ‘crime’ and to re-examine the legitimacy and efficacy of many conventional juvenile justice interventions with reference to ‘rehabilitation’, ‘harm reduction’, ‘crime prevention’ and ‘community safety’. It considers the extent to which international human rights standards might provide a unifying framework for juvenile justice law, policy and practice.

The book also critically analyses the social, economic, political and cultural contexts that appear to sustain both progressive and repressive juvenile justice (both within and between national borders). Ultimately, the foundational principles of a juvenile justice with integrity - a radical alternative model to conventional (and failing) western juvenile justice systems - is set out.

Re-imagining juvenile justice will have international appeal for students, teachers and researchers in criminology, sociology, social policy, social work, youth studies, cultural studies, socio-legal studies, law and political science.