The political economy of risk and the new governance of youth crime

Abstract

Despite heated debate over levels of convergence and diversity, risk assessment and behaviour management have become central themes of international youth justice strategies in several jurisdictions. However such strategies represent more than a new formula for the governance of delinquent youth as they also offer a novel framework for articulating class discipline within the context of a reconfigured style of sociopolitical and economic leadership. Postmodern social theory has rendered oldfashioned any attempts to meta-theorize about class in criminological research and it is therefore not intended to rekindle the grand narratives generated form orthodox Marxism. Nevertheless, class inequalities, along with those generated by other social forces, continue to structure many social relations and this article will explore the complex micro-processes by which class interests are articulated in youth justice relations through the twin processes of the individualization of risk and the responsibilization of young offenders. The argument is illustrated through research on the outcomes of government sponsored education, training and employment programmes for young offenders in England and Wales.Key Words conflation of risk and criminogenic need • employability • individualization of risk • responsibilization through cognitive behaviour training • transformative risk governance

Conceptualising ‘The Relationship’ in Intensive Key Worker Support as a Therapeutic Medium

“…In this process, individual and family needs become equated with personal deficits and deficiencies in attitudes and ways of thinking rendering structural factors extraneous (Gray, 2009). It is argued that a concern with therapeutic wellbeing might therefore become decontextualised and detract from the social and physical conditions in which much individual wellbeing is lived and felt; emotional wellbeing becomes about being psychological troubled rather than poor or overburdened (Gillies, 2014;Taylor, 2011).…”

Disciplining Freedom : Treatment Dilemmas and Subjectivity at a Detention Home for Young Men

“…Such programs are being used in a number of arenas, including schools, prisons, and juvenile institutions. While many studies within this branch of research involve policy studies (for example, Gray, 2009;Kemshall, 2002;Muncie, 2006), I will exemplify a few that have also explored how such discursively constituted subjectivities are taken up in practice. These studies draw on the notion of the decentered subject, which is constructed in particular ways through diverse discursive practices (Foucault, 1978), and they are targeted at investigating "the technologies and techniques that make certain subjectivities emerge" rather than the subjects themselves (as agents).…”

“…A branch of research building on Foucault's later writings on governmentality (1982,1991) has highlighted how, for example, treatment discourses in punitive settings construct subjectivity, and how, in general, neoliberal governing has been on the rise and is realized through, for instance, the use of CBT in different institutional settings (for example, Fox, 2001;Gray, 2009;Kemshall, 2002). Such programs are being used in a number of arenas, including schools, prisons, and juvenile institutions.…”

“…At present, many such programs are based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT; cf. Gray, 2009;Kemshall, 2002;Muncie, 2006). In these types of programs, coercive methods are avoided; instead, they aim to influence the offenders' thought patterns by draping the offenders in a particular psychological language, and, thereby, transforming the offenders into active, responsible citizens (Cox, 2011;Fox, 1999).…”

Sport as a Means of Responding to Social Problems : Rationales of Government, Welfare and Social Change

“…Dahlstedt 2008, Vesterberg 2016, criminology (e.g. Gray 2009;Muncie 2006;Stenson 2005), public health (e.g. Crawshaw 2012) and political science (e.g.…”