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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for juvenile justice system (scotland)
2 results foundAuthor: McAra, Lesley Title: Patterns of Referral to the Children's Hearing System for Drug and Alcohol Misuse Summary: The purpose of this paper is to explore patterns of referral to the children’s hearings system for drug and/or alcohol misuse. It draws on the findings of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (the Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending for a cohort of around 4,300 young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. The key findings are as follows: Only a small proportion (10 per cent) of children in the Edinburgh Study cohort with a children’s hearing record, were ever referred to the reporter on J grounds (for drug or alcohol misuse). However J ground referrals were only one of several routes into the hearings system for children with significant substance misuse problems. A further 3 per cent of those with records were referred for Misuse of Drugs Act offences and in another 11 per cent of cases drug and/or alcohol misuse was raised as a key issue in reports. Children known to the hearings system for substance misuse and other children with a hearings record were significantly more likely to be living in a single parent household and to come from a socially deprived background than non-record children. Self-reported substance misuse was significantly higher amongst children known to the hearings system for drug and/or alcohol misuse than amongst other children with a hearings record and non-record children. In official records, alcohol misuse was the most commonly identified problem. Children known to the system for drug and/or alcohol misuse exhibited high levels of anti-social and disruptive behaviour had problematic family and peer relationships and absconded regularly from school. Parental substance misuse, however, was not identified as a common problem in records. The earliest substance misuse referrals were made at age 11 and peaked at sweep five (reference period fourth year of secondary education). A high proportion of these children had a long history of involvement with the system, mostly for offending or being beyond the control of a relevant person. Just over a third of referrals with a substance misuse component resulted in a hearing, the most common outcome of which was a home supervision requirement. Children made subject to compulsory measures of care appear to have only limited access to specialist drug and/or alcohol programmes. Reports indicate that social work interventions focused on: the child’s challenging behaviour; truancy; the capacity of parents to control their children; and parent/child relationship breakdown. Compulsory measures of care may only have a limited impact on substance misuse. Just under two-thirds of those with a hearing had at least one further referral to the hearings system in later years. Moreover drug and/or alcohol misuse was raised as a key issue in the referral process in later years, for just under a half of children made subject to compulsory measures of care. Very few children in the Edinburgh cohort who regularly drank alcohol or took drugs were known to the hearings system. Level of drug use was only a weak predictor of having a hearings record. Substance misusers most likely to be referred were those who: were not living with two birth parents; came from a socially deprived background; exhibited challenging behaviour in the context of school; and came frequently to the attention of the police (importantly the latter were not always the most persistent and serious offenders). The findings are supportive of policy initiatives aimed at broadening the range of community- based services, access to which is not predominantly controlled by the police, schools or social work. The findings also suggest that sports and leisure programmes which aim to divert youngsters away from the streets and into meaningful, structured activities have an important role to play in preventing or reducing substance misuse amongst children. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2005. 34p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Number 6: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest6.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest6.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Alcohol Abuse (Scotland)Drug Abuse (Scotland)Juvenile Justice System (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Substance Abuse (Scotland) |
Author: Lightowler, Claire Title: Youth Justice in Scotland: Fixed in the past or fit for the future? Summary: During any meaningful conversation about youth justice in Scotland it is all but inevitable that The Kilbrandon Report will be mentioned given that it continues to act as a touchstone for practitioners, policymakers, researchers and politicians. As noted by Professor Stewart Asquith in the Preface to the reprinted version of the report, "The Kilbrandon Report was, and still remains, one of the most influential policy statements on how a society should deal with - children in trouble" (Asquith, 1995: vi). The release of this briefing paper falls, by chance, almost exactly half a century on from the presentation to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Scotland of The Kilbrandon Report in April 1964. At such a significant juncture it seems apposite to take stock of the state of youth justice in Scotland. - How successful is the youth justice system? - Have we translated the aspirations of the Kilbrandon Committee into meaningful support for children and young people? - What have been the recent developments in youth justice in Scotland? - Is there a shared vision for the future of youth justice in Scotland, and what might this look like? From the outset it is important to note that the very term "youth justice" poses a definitional challenge. For the purposes of this paper, we understand the youth justice system in Scotland to encompass the individuals, institutions and services with which young people up to the age of 18 come into contact as a result of their involvement in offending behaviour. However, we operate now in the world of Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) and the Whole System Approach (WSA), initiatives focused on the whole person and the whole system. Both terms would have seemed foreign to Lord Kilbrandon but one imagines that the principles and ethos which underpin them would have met with his approval. Nevertheless, one wonders what his assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, achievements and limitations of the youth justice system in Scotland might be 50 years on. While looking back to the work of the Kilbrandon Committee on the one hand, 2014 is also a hugely important year to look to the future, with a referendum scheduled that will decide whether Scotland becomes an independent nation state or remains part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Values have moved to the forefront of the debate, just as consensus around specific values drove the work of the Kilbrandon Committee. People are beginning to ask deeply challenging questions of themselves and others: not least, what are Scotland's values? Part of the purpose of this paper is in one sense to capture the zeitgeist. In part we want to reflect on the way values (whether stemming from Kilbrandon or other influences) can and might shape the youth justice system. We suspect that without a broad, societal consensus about the way in which offending behaviour by children and young people should be dealt with, it will remain a challenge to deliver the kind of youth justice system envisioned by the Kilbrandon Committee and latterly promoted by the Scottish Government through initiatives such as WSA. The stark reality is that talk is cheap. It is easy to talk about a commitment to the Kilbrandon philosophy but harder to carry through the policy changes that might be required to bring such a philosophy to life. Any politician is beholden to the electorate. It is less controversial for politicians to talk about the indivisible nature of "needs" and "deeds" and the importance of a welfare-oriented approach when making a speech to a supportive audience but much harder to articulate the merit of such an approach when faced with 3 an angry constituent in a drop-in surgery who is irate about youth crime and disorder in his local community. This paper is structured into three parts. Firstly, we examine some of the discernible trends in relation to youth offending patterns over the course of the last decade. Then we examine the interplay of politics, policy, research and practice in post-devolution Scotland as they relate to youth justice. We also explore some of the broader sociological and cultural trends that might account for some of the changes in relation to offending by young people. Lastly, we turn to the question of values and how these shape the current youth justice system. We conclude by outlining five practice and policy improvements which we believe would more effectively realise and update the Kilbrandon vision, building on youth justice developments and progress to date. We hope these suggestions stimulate further discussion and debate about the future of youth justice in Scotland. Details: Glasgow: Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice, 2014. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 23, 2014 at: http://www.cycj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Youth-Justice-in-Scotland.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cycj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Youth-Justice-in-Scotland.pdf Shelf Number: 133387 Keywords: Juvenile Justice ReformJuvenile Justice System (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders |