Punishing Juveniles: Principle and Critique
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Punishing Juveniles: Principle and Critique edited by Ido Weijers and Anthony Duff Oxford: Hart (2002) ISBN 1 84113 284 5 (224 pages, £30.00)
Reviewed by Jane Jones This edited collection of essays provides an informative and stimulating debate about juvenile offenders and the juvenile justice system. The contributions originate from a seminar held in June 2000 at the University of Utrecht, where a number of responses discussed the changing perceptions on juvenile offenders and the role of the state in this area. At the outset the editors point to three historical turning points: first, the 19th century provision of ‘a special set of institutions for juvenile offenders’ and ‘the emerging construction of a new welfare discourse oriented at the young offender and the child in danger’ (page 4); second, the creation of a ‘special juvenile justice system with the foundation of the juvenile court’ (page 4); and third, the period of the 1960s which was marked by: [the] collapse of the discourse of welfare, accompanied by a crumbling of the belief in state responsibility for re-education and rehabilitation, as well as an erosion of the belief in scientific expertise in this field and a corresponding erosion of the belief in the value of special institutions. (page 5)
It is this third turning point that provides the focus for the range of contributions from authors in criminology, education, sociology, philosophy and psychology. The inter-disciplinary approach to the discussions adds to the overall approach of the book as a thought-provoking and critical examination of the relevant issues. Each of the authors sets out, from his/her own particular perspective, arguments regarding the treatment of juvenile offenders that are grounded in theoretical and/or empirical research. They are not all in agreement about the role of criminal punishment and the ways in which the juvenile justice system should be organised. Perhaps because of the diversity of both disciplinary approach and ideas about juvenile justice encountered in this one volume, the range of questions posed is also diverse, and yet the contributions are coherently linked by the overall structure of the text. This begins with an introduction by the editors in Chapter 1, and is then divided up into three main parts (past and present; education and punishment; shame, guilt and remorse). Chapter 1 introduces each of the contributions that follows, within a framework aiming briefly to set out some of the relevant philosophical, historical and empirical background to the essays. The editors also recognise at the outset the difficulties of defining the age range of ‘juveniles’, and against the backdrop of a number of varying Western definitions they settle in this volume for a psychological definition of ‘roughly between the ages 12 and 17’ (page 3). In their attempt to fill in the gaps for what follows, the editors also raise a number of questions, related to each of the three main parts of the book, that have implications for the direction of future research. For example,
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