The Treatment of Young People in the Criminal Justice System: A Synthesis of Local Perspectives

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

In this panel, we will highlight key themes in the contemporary treatment of young people in the criminal justice systems of England and Wales, the United States, and Ghana. This panel results from a long-term discussion about the parallels and distinctions between youth justice systems in these contexts, which are linked by a shared and lengthy history of colonial power and policy transfer. The authors, whose work focuses on the intersections of theory and practice in youth justice, will identify the ways that key contemporary debates and issues in youth justice in each jurisdiction reflects transnational concerns, particularly as related to colonialism and its effects, the tension between indigenous and non-indigenous approaches to justice, and paternalism and its legacies. The authors will reflect on the implications of the cross-national comparisons and identify some areas for empirical growth and analysis.

Sub Unit

• Area IX. Juvenile Crime and the Justice System / 49. Juvenile Justice Policies and Practices

Individual Presentations

• Contemporary Youth Justice in England and Wales - Daniel Marshall, Liverpool John Moores University

• An American View on Contemporary Youth Justice - Alexandra Cox, State University of New York, New Paltz

• ‘Dancing Around the Issue’: Discourse on Youth Crime and Paradoxes of Youth Justice in Ghana - Kofi Boakye, Anglia Ruskin University