This study aims to explore why and how the views of others are elicited and integrated within youth justice work, and how educational psychologists (EPs) may support this. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (United Nations, 1989) highlights the right for all children and young people to express their views, thoughts and feelings on issues affecting them and for these views to be seriously considered.Youth justice services work within a ‘child first’ principle and upholding of this is partly achieved through the elicitation and integration of children’s views. Similar to this, EPs aim to ensure participation and advocacy is integral to their own work. Their experiences of working across a wide age and developmental range means EPs are well placed in eliciting and integrating views from a diverse range of groups. Semi-structured interviews with staff from two English youth justice services are used, albeit both services did not have any prior experience of educational psychology services. Thematic analysis of data identifies three global themes addressing the facilitators and barriers of eliciting and integrating views, as well as how youth justice professionals view EPs supporting them in their work.The paper concludes that there is scope within the EP role for supporting youth justice services. Future research could identify how different youth service roles might differentially utilise educational psychology service.
This systematic literature review (SLR) aims to explore the current role and functions of educational psychologist (EP) practice within youth justice work. The Crime and Disorder Act (1998) requires all local authorities (LAs) to have a multi-agency team (incorporating health, education, care, police and probation agencies) whose role is to support children and young people known to the Youth Justice System, with the aim of tackling the multi-faceted risk factors linked with youth offending. However, a review of the Youth Justice System by Charlie Taylor (2016) highlighted that there was often little knowledge about education and learning development amongst youth justice professionals (YJPs), and that emotional and mental health needs of those within the system were rising. This, along with the government proposal to develop child psychology knowledge amongst YJPs (Ministry of Justice, 2016a), suggests there is place for EP involvement. Searches of six databases and reference harvesting yielded 10 studies which met eligibility criteria. These were assessed for methodological quality and appropriateness of focus. Though the small number may be viewed as a limitation, it highlights the need for research within this area. The findings of this SLR contribute to the understanding of how the functions of the EP role can be utilised in supporting youth justice services. It concludes with exemplifying how the functions enable EPs to work as scientist-practitioners within complex, real-world contexts, such as youth justice work.
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