A Political Ecology of Youth and Crime

This book proposes a new conceptual framework for theorising young people's relationship with crime. It emerges from a critique of the narrow approach advocated by developmental criminology and argues for an analysis that recognises and includes the important contribution that the young themselves can make to the theorising and understanding of their relationship with crime. Explicitly using the voices of a group of working class young people who are defined as "a social problem," this approach emphasises how criminal identities and pathways are strongly influenced by the interactions embedded in political ecological systems and relationships.

 

Drawing upon the work of the social psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this book explores young people's "nested" and "political" ecological relationships with crime. The Political Ecology of Youth and Crime examines the impacts of these relationships through an empirical investigation of the important "places" and "spaces" in young people's lives; in their social relationships with peers and family members; and within formal institutional systems such as education, youth justice and social care. This book makes an important new contribution to how we understand the relationship between youth and crime in the contexts of sociology, criminology, social psychology and education.

ALAN FRANCE is a professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He has, over the past 20 years, been researching and writing on youth related issues. He set up and established the International Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth (CSCY) at the University of Sheffield in 2002 and was Director of the Centre for Social Policy Research (CRSP) at Loughborough University (2006 - 2010). He has written extensively on youth policy, risk, citizenship, and youth crime and has a number of publications including Understanding Youth in Late Modernity (2007) and Pathways and Crime Prevention (2007).

DOROTHY BOTTRELL is a senior lcturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. She worked in secondary teaching, juvenile justice, youth and community work before taking up an academic post in 2007. Dorothy is Convenor of the University of Sydney Network on Childhood and Youth Research and co-editor of Schools, Communities and Social Inclusion (Palgrave, 2011) and Communities and Change (2008).

 

DERRICK ARMSTRONG is a professor of Education and is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the University of Sydney. His research has focussed on issues of social inclusion and exclusion in education and the ways in which disadvantage and "deviance" are identified and managed by professionals, social agencies and institutions working with children and young people. He is author, co-author and editor of eight books and monographs. His most recent publication is Inclusive Education: International Policy and Practice, (2010) with Armstrong, A.C., and Spandagou, I.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Beyond Developmental Criminology

Resilience and Social Ecology

Research Background

Outline of the Book

PART I: A THEORY OF THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF YOUTH AND CRIME

Introduction

A Political Ecology of Human Development

Power and Political Ecology

Human Development and Social Identity

Conclusion

PART II: THE ECOLOGY OF PLACE AND SPACE

Introduction

Social Disorganisation in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods

The Normalisation of Crime, Risk and Danger in Place and Spaces

The Ecology of 'Protection' in High Crime Areas

Social Control and Regulation in High Crime Areas

'Feeling Safe' in Risky and Dangerous Places

Place, Space and 'Disrupted' Lives

Conclusion

PART III: BEING CRIMINAL

Introduction

Pro-social and Anti-social Childhood

'Ordinary Lives'

Being Criminal: 'Things' Happen

The 'Situating' and Management of Boredom

'Being a kid' and Social Ecology

'In the system'

Assessment in Youth Justice

Early Interventions for those 'at risk'

Conclusion

PART IV: THE ECOLOGY AND CULTURE OF PEER GROUPS

Introduction

Peer Groups as 'Delinquency Training'

Peer Groups and Friendships

Friends, 'Others' and the Contexts of Peer Relations

Hanging Out, Going Out and 'Chilling Out'

Peer Back-up on the Streets

Peers, Conflict and Empowerment in School

Changing Peer Groups

Conclusion

PART V: EDUCATION AND CRIME

Introduction

Accounts of Low Achievement and Low Commitment

Permanent Exclusion from Mainstream Schools

Acquiring Special Educational Needs

Young People's Views on PRU's and Special Schools

Alternative Provision and Pathways

Conclusion

PART VI: THE ECOLOGY OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Introduction

Family Risk Factors in Developmental Criminology

Young People and Families: Routines and Relationships

Home Rules

Family Roles and Young People's Offending

The Impact of Offending and Interventions on Families

Family Adversities

Young People, Families, Risk and Resilience

Conclusion

PART VII: THE ECOLOGY OF BEING 'IN CARE'

Introduction

Being in Care as a 'risk factor'

In and Out of Care

The Nature of 'being in Care'

The Social Ecology of Care: Diversity and Trajectories

Managing Identities in Care

The Importance of Peers and Friends

The Social Care System and Risk

Professional Intervention

Conclusion

CONCLUSION: YOUTH, CRIME AND 'ORDINARY LIFE' THROUGH AN ECOLOGICAL LENS

Ecological Impacts and the Bounding of 'Choice'

The 'Nested' Qualities of Social Action

Resilience as a Social Resource

Power and Injustice in Political Ecology

Conclusion

References

Endnotes