Themes and Competing/intersecting Narratives in Juvenile Justice

• In Event: Various Colors of Juvenile Justice: Some Key Messages from Comparative Research

Abstract

Themes are forms of generalization, not descriptions of states of affairs. They tend to be framed at varying levels of abstraction and are means by which participants, observers, and students of a particular field seek to understand some of the forces and tensions that operate to drive, divide, and mark out the lines of contest in a particular field. Key themes are often expressed in and through narratives, stories that attempt to describe, explain, and make sense of the world. Different narratives are constantly in circulation, competing and intersecting, fluctuating in their power and explanatory potential as they are taken up, championed or contested by a range of actors, institutions, and individuals, from the powerful such as politicians, business leaders and media, to the less powerful such as youth workers and individual young people caught up in the criminal justice system. This paper will offer some thoughts on a few of the key themes and competing/intersecting narratives that circulate in the field of juvenile justice, including neo-liberalism, risk, managerialism, and bifurcation.

Author

• David Brown, University of New South Wales