Youth Offending and Restorative Justice: Implementing Reform in Youth Justice
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Youth Offending and Restorative Justice: Implementing Reform in Youth Justice by Adam Crawford and Tim Newburn Cullompton: Willan (2003) ISBN 1 843920 11 5 (264 pages, £18.99)
Reviewed by Patricia Gray The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 introduced referral orders into the youth justice system in England and Wales, although they were not implemented nationally in all youth offending teams (YOTs) until April 2002. In 2000 the Home Office piloted referral orders in 11 YOT areas, and Crawford and Newburn were involved in their evaluation (see Newburn et al, 2002). Crawford and Newburn’s book begins with a reflective analysis of the politics of youth justice (Chapter 1) and the current controversies surrounding the ideals and practices of restorative justice (Chapters 2 and 3). But the bulk of the book (Chapters 4 to 11) is taken up with a ‘theoretically grounded account’ (page 1) of the research findings from the authors’ evaluation of the referral order pilot projects. The concluding chapter (Chapter 12) draws together the key empirical results from this evaluation and places them within the context of recent debates about the meaning of restorative justice and changes in the politics, policy and practice of youth justice. In general the book is competently written and fulfils what it set out to achieve. However, this review will take issue with some of the authors’ concluding comments, in which they attempt to highlight the distinctive features of the book. The particular section in question is entitled Implications for the Study of Youth Justice (pages 233–7). Here they argue, somewhat simplistically, that the study of youth justice has been dominated by three bodies of work. First, theoretical work which analyses policy and the politics of youth justice. Second, empirically-based longitudinal studies which explore the risk and protective factors associated with offending. And finally, ‘the burgeoning market in, what are often small-scale, empirical studies of local practice’ (page 234). According to Crawford and Newburn the problem with this ‘rather unhelpful division in criminology between those engaged in largely theoretical scholarship and those that are empirically-minded’ (page 235) is that ‘it fails to engage with the relationship between politics, policy and practice in a meaningful manner’ (page 234). More significantly, it leads youth justice critics to assume that what is prescribed in policy will automatically be translated into professional practice. For Crawford and Newburn this premise is mistaken, because professional practice is often at odds with policy dictates. The referral order, they argue, is a case in point because the ‘positive’ way in which it has been developed and implemented by practitioners has addressed many of the critical issues raised by policy analysts. The remainder of this review will seek to challenge this argument, and to show that Crawford and Newburn’s research on the development and implementation of the referral order confirms rather than contradicts the worst
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