Out of Jail: The Reduction in the Use of Penal Custody for Male Juveniles 1981‐88

Abstract

An examination of the factors associated with the halving in the number of custodial sentences made on male juveniles since 1981. The paper discusses the reduction in the general population and the numbers being sentenced, the role of new legislation and changes in sentencing practice brought about by disillusionment with custody, systemic intervention by welfare agencies and the injection of resources into community based alternatives to custody by the DHSS IT Initiative.

Reducing Child Imprisonment: A Systemic Challenge1

“…So the rate of diversion for 14-16 year old males rose between 1981 and 1988, from 34 to 59 per cent, with the result that the number of boys of that age appearing in the juvenile court fell from 62,300 to 30,400 (Allen, 1991).…”

Castigar a los chicos. La construcción de carreras criminales en la Ciudad de los Granujas

“…Pero la extensión de las medidas disponibles pronto llevó al incremento paralelo del número de menores sometidos a tratamiento. La existencia de una gama sin precedentes de opciones tratamentales percibidas como 'blandas' al fin de cuentas había enredado en el sistema penal y de rehabilitación a un número sin precedentes de chicos, muchos de los cuales anteriormente hubiesen evitado cualquier control institucional (Rutherford, 1986;Allen, 1991). Es difícil establecer si esta expansión ha sido determinada por la proliferación de las agencias o por la intensificación de las competencias profesionales de los operadores.…”

Where has all the Youth Crime Gone? Youth Justice in an Age of Austerity

“…Margaret Thatcher's administration was not known for its tolerance; indeed Pitts (:40) notes that it gloried in the ‘rise of vindictiveness’. Yet during the 1980s, child imprisonment fell by 80 per cent as the use of diversionary measures expanded: pre‐court measures accounted for less than half of all disposals in 1980 but more than three quarters in 1990 (Allen, ). These developments reflected a conscious depoliticisation of youth justice (Smith, ).…”