This document summarizes John Clark's final course on violent and sexually offending young people over several weeks. It covers topics like the youth justice system, prevalence of youth crime, the murder of Jamie Bulger, media portrayals of youth crime, weapons and gangs, truth and rehabilitation versus punishment, and cycles of abuse in adolescent sex offenders. The summary emphasizes that most youth offending is non-violent and non-sexual in nature, but the most serious cases require assessment and intervention, with consideration given to other countries' approaches.

1. Final Course summary
week 10
John Clark

2. Violent & sexually offending young people
 Essay process.
1. Initial marking
2. Moderated
3. Exam Board – June
4. July - pick up scripts from LLC

3. What do we mean by Youth Crime?
Issues in respect of:
 Age; gender; class etc
 Age of criminal responsibility
 Doli Incapax
 Justice / Welfare pendulum
 Key Moments
 Romanticisation of crime
 Demonisation & Moral Panics

4. Social construction
 A perspective that begins with exploring
assumptions associated with the labelling of
things & emphasizes the importance of social
expectations in the analysis of taken for
granted & apparently natural social
circumstances. (Clarke & Cochrane 1998)

5. How prevalent is crime?
 Is crime limited to a minority ‘hard core’ of the
population?
 Is crime an activity engaged in by the majority
of the population?
 How can we ‘know’ the extent of crime in a
population

6. The Youth Justice System 10-18
 Pre-court diversions
Community or restorative resolution, Reprimands, Final Warnings
 Court stage (pre-conviction)
Remand & bail with or without conditions, remand in custody, plea stage,
conviction, acquittal, reports
 Court ordered interventions
Common law bindover, Fines & discharges, Referral Orders, Reparation
Orders, Youth Rehabilitation Orders, Custody

7. The murder of Jamie Bulger
 This event created a new anxiety about the
state of youth & offending in the UK
 Led to the Misspent Youth report (1996) and
the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
 Raised debates about:
 What should be done with violent young offenders
 The age of criminal responsibility
 Was trying two 10 year olds in an adult court
appropriate – what are the alternatives
 Contrast with Norway

8. Youth Crime & the media
 Distortion of the nature and incidence of crimes
against the person
 Youth Crime reported by a deviance defining elite
 Stereotyping offenders
 Atypical crimes heavily reported
 Reality not reflected. Emphasis on crime waves
rather than incident
 Moral panic produces fear of crime
 Crime is newsworthy

9. Knife Crime & knife carrying , do you regularly carry a knife?
 Although the 1 in 23 figure appears to be high once
again, the data was further analysed to show a more
realistic picture. It was clear that many students
surveyed who answered “yes” to this question were for
reasons such as eating or food preparation.
 As with the previous question, the majority of
respondents who answered “yes” to this question cited
the reason as being “Food Preparation/Cooking” (43),
and a further 24 respondents stated they had carried a
knife “in the Kitchen”. Further “legitimate” reasons given
showed that 18 respondents suggested the reason for
carrying as “eating” and a further 18 of the respondents
gave the reason for carrying as “Outdoor Pursuits” such
as Scouting, Cadets, Camping or Fishing.

10. Weapons & gangs
 Weapons
Sticks, stones, knives, ropes, guns. What constitutes a
weapon?
 Violence
‘Violence against the person’
 Game over
Weapons awareness game
 Gangs
What is a gang? When is a gang not a gang

11. Truth, right & wrong
 Retributive system & the truth
Evidence & proof beyond all reasonable doubt
 Rehabilitative system and the truth
Establishing antecedents & developing treatment
 Restoration and truths
Inclusion of victim and community introducing a different
sort of truth.

12. Dealing with offending
 Retributive systems seek public accountability
with a focus on punishment as a method
demonstrating societal disapproval and of
deterring the offender
 Welfare systems emphasis on antecedents
concentrate on education, rehabilitation &
treatment of the offender
 Restorative systems, re-integrative shaming,
focus on re-empowering the person harmed &
enabling the harm causer to accept personal
responsibility
 John Clark 2010

13. Cycles of abuse, how is work with
adolescent sex offenders undertaken?
 Sex education
 Challenge denial
 Abuse of trust and power
 Joint work & relapse prevention
 Victims or perpetrators?

14. Summary
 Most young people offend at some point in their lives
 Only a relatively small proportion of offending is of a
serious sexual or violent nature
 The ability to be violent is a survival mechanism
 Most of us are socialised out of violence
 Many ordinary items can be used as weapons
 Weapons are generally carried for self defence but are
turned on the person carrying them
 Most offending by youth is grown out of but a small
number of adolescents offend sexually & this can be
grown into

15. Violent & sexually offending young people
 Violent & sexual offending covers a wide
range of behaviours and of seriousness
 The least serious can manifest ‘normal’
boundary challenging as part of emerging
adolescence
 The most serious will require assessment &
intervention
 Does the intervention need to be mandated
by a criminal court order?
 Consider how other European country’s
manage? John Clark 2011

16. Violent & sexually offending young people
 Evaluation forms
 Thank you for your participation
 Finish