The managerialist turn and the education of young offenders in state care

Abstract

Managerialism has become a major trait of youth justice systems throughout Europe over the past couple of decades. This has taken place in the wider context of significant changes in criminal justice systems, which in their turn are articulated with the rise of neo-liberalism. There has been a shift from a humanistic penal welfarism strongly predicated on state interventions, and aimed at the social reintegration of offenders, to a containment regime focused mostly on social control, risk management and the reduction of insecurity. Based on ethnographic work carried out in a detention and education centre for juvenile offenders in Portugal, this paper presents and discusses the ways in which this managerialist turn impacts on the education of youths in custodial state care. Specifically, it focuses on the downgrading of educational expectations, the relegation of schooling to a matter of low priority, and the decline of the rehabilitation ideal. The implications of this managerialist turn for professional practice are also discussed.

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