NCJ Number
172667
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 36 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1997) Pages: 187-208
Date Published
1997
Length
22 pages
Annotation
The author rejects the contention of liberal writers that the historical development of juvenile justice has been a story of continual reform reflecting the struggle between principles of justice, welfare, and punishment, and she presents a revisionist history of the Hong Kong juvenile justice system from a strategic-relational perspective.
Abstract
The juvenile court is conceptualized as an institutional network of power relations, struggling to formulate policies and programs to regulate the behavior of delinquent young people. The author posits that a strategic policy direction evolves out of this struggle, not through the work of any one individual or class, but as part of a wider hegemonic campaign. Her argument is elaborated through a historical account of the emergence of the disciplinary welfare sanction in Hong Kong at the end of the 1970s and its consolidation in the 1980s and 1990s. The disciplinary welfare sanction is discussed in terms of the strategic interests of several social forces apart from hegemonic classes, and the sanction's role in dealing with delinquent young people is examined. The juvenile justice system in Hong Kong is viewed as a site of strategic maneuvering that provides opportunities for the pursuit of both hegemonic class interests and a number of other struggles. 85 references and 44 notes