This article is based on primary research conducted with children in community and custodial settings in Northern Ireland. It provides an analysis of the social, economic and political context in which children's rights are routinely breached. Presenting consultations with children in the community, the article considers the impact of negative assumptions, disrespect and exclusion from participation. It demonstrates how the rights of socially excluded and marginalized children are consistently undermined. Further, it draws on the experiences of children and the views of staff in considering the rights of children in custody. In conclusion, the article explores the contributions of critical analysis and rights-based discourses within an increasingly punitive climate.
The aim of this article is to examine the impact of the Conflict on the development and character of the prison system in Northern Ireland. It traces the use of imprisonment to repress challenges to the legitimacy of the State, and the ways in which prisoners and communities have resisted oppressive penal policies. Evidence is presented that notwithstanding the peace process and early release of most politically‐motivated prisoners, regimes within the North's three prison establishments remain heavily influenced by the experience of violence, with a prioritisation of security over care and rehabilitation. The establishment, in 2010, of an independent Prison Review led by Dame Anne Owers, has presented an opportunity to address the underlying problems within the prison system. The article concludes by exploring the implications of the Northern Ireland experience for other transitional jurisdictions undergoing penal reform.
The aim of this paper is to examine how the legal framework for the custody of children in Northern Ireland has developed historically. Drawing upon legislation and literature, it explores the conceptual and historical development of institutions and provisions for the custodial disposal of children, within a broad overview of the wider social and political context. This, it is argued, shows how custodial provision for children remains significantly influenced by nineteenth century philosophies and institutional practices, and that in effect the custodial disposal of children remains 'locked in the past'.
Based on primary research conducted for the Northern Ireland luman Rights Commission (Convery & Moore 2006) 1 this article explores the care of children in the Juvenile Justice Centre for Northern Ireland [JJC or the Centre] in the context of their rights. The research followed from a previous Commission investigation (Kilkelly et al 2002) which identified serious breaches of rights. Still in Our Care was based primarily on qualitative research with children, staff and managers in the JJC where children aged 10 to 17 were remanded or sentenced to custody. This article concludes that despite legislative change and various reviews of the youth justice system, the state in Northern Ireland persists in consigning some of the most vulnerable and challenging children to incarceration within a 'total institution' (Goffman 1961) from the industrial and reformatory schools of the 19th century, through to the juvenile justice centre of the 21st century. Finally, the article considers the need for a transformation in the state's response to children in conflict with the law and the potential of the Bill of Rights process for achieving this.
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