Synopses & Reviews
This report presents the findings from the first national, representative survey of public attitudes to youth crime and youth justice in England and Wales.Significantly, it highlights that most people are demonstrably ill-informed about youth crime and youth justice issues. It also carries clear policy implications in relation to both public education and reform of the youth justice system.Youth crime and youth justice is essential reading for academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, criminology, social policy, social work and probation.Researching Criminal Justice seriesCrime and justice are issues of central political and public concern in contemporary Britain. This exciting new series presents top quality research findings in the field. It will contribute significantly to policy and practice debates and aims to improve the knowledge base considerably. The series will be essential reading for politicians and policy makers, academics, researchers and practitioners.For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.
Synopsis
This report presents the findings from the first national, representative survey of public attitudes to youth crime and youth justice in England and Wales. The findings illustrate the complex and multi-layered nature of public opinion on this topic. They show that the public has a more pessimistic view of youth crime than is justified by official crime statistics. While most people say that they want the youth justice system to be tougher on young offenders, many are supportive of restorative or rehabilitative approaches when presented with detail on specific cases. Significantly, the report highlights that most people are demonstrably ill-informed about youth crime and youth justice issues. It carries clear policy implications in relation to both public education and reform of the youth justice system. Youth crime and youth justice is essential reading for academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, criminology, social policy, social work
Synopsis
This report presents the findings from the first national, representative survey of public attitudes to youth crime and youth justice in England and Wales. It carries clear policy implications in relation to both public education and reform of the youth justice system.
About the Author
Mike Hough, Institute for Criminal Policy Research, School of Law, King's College London and Julian V. Roberts, Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction: Previous research The present study
The survey
Outline of the report
Chapter 2: Crime by young offenders: Few people identify youth crime as the single most important crime problem today
Most people believe that the number of young offenders has been increasing
Drug crimes perceived to be increasing at fastest rate
People over-estimate the proportion of crime for which young offenders are responsible
Many people over-estimate the percentage of youth crime involving violence
Almost half the polled public thinks that there is more youth crime in Britain than other Western nations
Most people over-estimate the proportion of young offenders who are reconvicted
Most people see youth today as less respectful than previous generations
Summary
Chapter 3: The youth justice system: People favour different crime reduction strategies for youth and adults
Purposes of sentencing
Public ascribe different purposes to sentencing young and adult offenders
Purpose of prison for young and adult offenders
The new system of youth justice: an unnoticed reform
Ratings and perceptions of youth courts: negative ratings persist
Youth court sentences perceived to be too lenient
Perceptions of leniency linked to evaluations of youth courts
Summary
Chapter 4: Sentencing preferences in specific cases: Sentencing preferences and expectations of sentencing practices
Restorative sentencing and young offenders
Support for imprisoning young offender falls when restorative gestures made
Acceptability of substitute sanctions
Public find alternative sanctions to constitute acceptable alternative to prison
Testing the 'substitute sanction' hypothesis in other jurisdictions
Leading questions?
Perceptions of restorative sentences
Relationship between general views of sentencing and evaluations of specific sentence
Effect of making costs salient
Chapter 5: Conclusions: Lessons for policy