Juvenile Justice: An Australian Perspective

Abstract

Young offenders and juvenile crime have a high public profile today. In most advanced industrialised countries there is the same heightened awareness of youth issues, fuelled by extensive media hype surrounding youthful deviance and anti-social behavior. This book describes and explores the issues, people and institutions involved with juvenile justice in Australia. The book provides an introduction to the main concepts and issues in juvenile justice, and provides a consolidated overview of the dynamics of youth crime and the institutions of social control. Given the need for considered debate and thoughtful policy formulation in this area, the book not only provides basic information about the acual workings of the juvenile justice system but raises a number of questions and issues which warrant further examination. The book is divided into three main sections. Part A: History and Theory provides an historical and theoretical overview of the development of juvenile justice from the nineteenth century to the present. Part B: The Dynamics of Juvenile Crime examines the nature and extent of contemporary juvenile crime. The final section of the book Part C: The State, Punishment and Crime Prevention, looks more closely at the responses of the state to juvenile offending. While the material in the book concentrates on Australian facts and figures, histories and examples, the broad conceptual and empirical descriptions will be of use and interest to readers in countries such as Canada, the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. For the issues, theories and social conflicts with which we deal are grounded in general economic and social conditions which in many ways transcend national barriers. This book will be of special interest to ciminology and law students. It is also an important reference source for youth and community workers, justice department officials, members of the police, social scientists, social workers and young people themselves who want to find out more about parts of the system, and important social issues, about which they may not have had adequate information previously.

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