A Social Ecological Approach to ‘Child Friendly’ Youth Justice

Abstract

This paper draws on research on young people’s prolific offending in Wales, and youth justice responses to it, between 2009 and 2015. A case study of twelve young people, and the YOT workers who supervised and supported them through their teenage years, illustrates how seeing young people through the lens of interactions and relationships – with family, peers, community and the broader socio-cultural-political context – gives insight into the type of interventions that can most effectively disrupt their offending and enhance their wellbeing. These insights have implications for the way in which youth offending teams engage with young people, to bring about positive change in their lives. We ..