NCJ Number
100554
Journal
International Journal of Sociology of Law Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: (November 1985) Pages: 407-421
Date Published
1985
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Contrary to the claims of opponents of the 1969 English Children and Young Persons Act that a justice approach provides the basis of a progressive juvenile criminal justice strategy, such a strategy leads to potentially dangerous political consequences.
Abstract
In England and Wales, the 1969 Children and Young Persons Act installed local authority social work in a central juvenile justice role, provided social workers with control over treatment of juveniles, and extended the scope of control to predelinquents by introducing intermediate treatment provisions. Opponents have criticized the Act for its discretionary welfare orientation. By presenting juvenile justice as the site of opposition between the principles of justice and welfare, opponents of the act oversimplify the social process of juvenile justice and shift issues of class power to questions of subjective social worker bias. The political implications of the justice movement include support for more dominant propositions linking justice and punishment and an antiwelfarism. Further, in framing accountability in terms of the rule of law, the movement has excluded accountability as a political rather than a legal relationship. A constant recycling of the justice versus welfare debate is a misconception of the politics of juvenile justice and offers a choice only as to which form of oppression is preferable. The basis for truly progressive strategies requires the politicization of both legal and welfare agencies involved in juvenile justice. 14 references.