Developing effective relationships between youth justice workers and young people: a synthesis of the evidence, REPPP review

What next for desistance and youth justice?

“…More recently, there has been a renewed emphasis on the professional relationship at a policy level: it is a key focus of the Youth Justice Board case management guidance (2022) and national standards (2019), and HMIP's inspection framework (2021). And yet, for all the talk of the importance of the professional relationship, there is little discussion about what it means to have a positive professional relationship or the factors that help and hinder the development and maintenance of such relationships (with some exceptions; see, for example, Fullerton et al, 2021). Prior and Mason (2010, p 219) note that 'the quality of the relationship between practitioner and the young person and the associated knowledge and skills -has rarely been the topic of rigorous research investigation'.…”