2017 Drummond Hunter Memorial Lecture: Youth Justice Coming of Age? Deviance, Diversion and Desistance

2017 Drummond Hunter Memorial Lecture: Youth Justice Coming of Age? Deviance, Diversion and Desistance

Howard League Scotland
Tuesday, November 28, 2017 - 18:00
Edinburgh

Please note this event has now ended.

The recent reductions in convictions and imprisonment rates for young people in Scotland are viewed by politicians and some policy makers as evidence that youth justice policy is working. In this lecture, Professors Lesley McAra and Susan McVie of Edinburgh University will interrogate the meaning of these statistics in a context where diversionary imperatives have come to the fore and where the Scottish Government is planning to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from age 8 to 12. Does the apparent 'youth crime drop' signify the efficacy of diversion or does it instead reflect transformations in contexts and nature of youthful transgressions? And what are its implications for delivering justice for those young people who do come into conflict with the law. Drawing on over 18 years of fieldwork from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, they will present a vision for youth justice which answers such questions.

Co-sponsored by the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Law and Society.

Slides from the lecture are available for download.

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