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Children, Crime, Policy and Practice: Neither Welfare nor Justice
Barry Goldson,
Corresponding Author
Barry Goldson
University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, Eleanor Rathbone Building, PO Box 147, Myrtle Street, Liverpool L69 3BXSearch for more papers by this authorBarry Goldson,
Corresponding Author
Barry Goldson
University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, Eleanor Rathbone Building, PO Box 147, Myrtle Street, Liverpool L69 3BXSearch for more papers by this authorAbstract
In February 1993 when the Prime Minister proclaimed that ‘society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less’, and the Home Secretary referred to ‘really persistent nasty little juveniles’ (Daily Mail, 22 February 1993), they set the tone for subsequent policy and practice in relation to children in trouble. It is a policy and practice which in ‘condemning more’ and ‘understanding less’ rides roughshod over the welfare needs of children and negates their claims to justice. Moreover, the representation of children as ‘really persistent nasty little juveniles’ has apparently served to legitimise the harsh excesses of government responses. This paper challenges such ‘legitimacy’ and calls for a fundamental change in the policy and practice relating to children in trouble.
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