Negotiated identities, parallel lives: New findings from the Edinburgh Study

• In Event: Trajectories, Transitions and Identities in Juvenile/Youth Justice: Reflecting Critically on Interventions and System Effects

Abstract

This paper will set out findings from 25 years of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime. It is based on survey and administrative data for an initial cohort of over 4,300 children and young people, as well as in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of the cohort at age 35 years. We highlight the path dependencies which result from the intersection between early contact with juvenile justice, school exclusion and poverty, that lead to deeper and more intensive forms of criminal justice contact in later years. Despite these path dependencies, the criminal justice system does not feature as a central part of people’s narratives about their lives in early middle age nor their efforts to desist from offending – it is peripheral and perceived as just one of many hazards to be negotiated. The paper reflects on the implications of the empirical findings for theory, method and policy.

Authors

• Lesley McAra, Edinburgh University

• Susan McVie, University of Edinburgh