Police officers’ implicit theories of youth offending

Abstract

How police understand youth offending at least partly informs their responses to it. It is therefore vital to document police implicit theories about youth offending. However, little previous research has examined this topic. This article addresses this gap by examining police implicit theories about youth crime and how it ought to be addressed. Using social control theory as an analytic framework, it critically examines 41 semi-structured qualitative interviews with police undertaken for a larger study in Queensland, Australia. A number of implications stem from the analysis, not the least of which is the disjuncture between police implicit theories of youth offending, and the localised, historicised and contextual realities of young people’s – especially marginalised young people’s – offending behaviour.

Police decision-making with young offenders: Examining barriers to the use of diversion options

“…Participants noted a wide variation in capability and confidence of police colleagues with young people. Consistent with recent work by Richards (2019), our analysis suggests that it may be appropriate to increase youth-specific core police training covering developmentally informed practice, working with young people with complex needs, trauma-informed practice and de-escalation techniques. Nevertheless, we consider that there is not likely to be one solution to creating lasting positive changes within policing workforces.…”

“…Policing research has given increased attention to the values, skills and experience police bring to their work (Schulenberg, 2010), and some recent work has investigated values such as ‘blameworthiness’ in relation to discretionary decision-making with adults (Ishoy & Dabney, 2018). However, there has been less attention to investigation of the values that inform decision-making with young people (see Richards, 2019; Richards et al., 2019). This is an important gap given that police have significant scope for the use of discretion with this group – particularly where offences are ‘low level’ and they have the opportunity to refer to diversion programmes or support services.…”

“…A recent Australian qualitative study examined police views about young people, concluding that, despite varied perceptions of young people, police ‘predominantly positioned young people as subjects requiring intervention’ (Richards, Cross, & Dwyer, 2019, p. 369). In a linked paper, Richards (2019) discussed how police interview participants seemed to prefer strategies which focus on control and surveillance of young people. She highlighted a disconnect between police implicit or ‘lay’ theories about young people and the realities of youth offending – including the factors that drive offending among marginalised young people and the efficacy of particular approaches to crime reduction.…”

Opportunities for prevention: a data-linkage study to inform a public health response to youth offending in the Northern Territory, Australia

“…Children with unsubstantiated notifications are also at increased risk of contact with the youth justice system, which indicates the need for family support services for these children even in the absence of meeting the threshold for a statutory child protection response [ 9 ]. Although there is scant evaluation [ 55 ] of either general or Aboriginal-specific prevention programs in Australia [ 4 , 56 , 57 ], internationally there has been strong evidence for family-based programs (such as behavioural parent training) in reducing delinquency and antisocial behavior in children [ 58 ] and for family-focused interventions that adopt a population level approach to parenting support [ 59 ]. In Canada, the National Crime Prevention Centre has built a resource containing ‘promising’ programs for Aboriginal populations [ 60 , 61 ].…”

I don't know you, Random Man: Adolescent female perceptions of procedural justice during police contact

“…Therefore, "adults in authority may be able to define the context, form and meaning of communication between themselves and adolescents" (Drury, 2003, p. 1). The us and them attitudes imbedded within police culture can feasibly affect police actions, specifically those directed at adolescents (Chan, 1997;Paoline & Terrill, 2005;Richards, 2020). Police attitudes about young people impact how police employ discretion over young people (Marinos & Innocente, 2008;McAra & McVie, 2005;Richards, 2020).…”