Course Resources Archive

This module will acquaint students with the principles and practice of practitioners in the UK Youth Justice system. It will link it with associated areas of concern such as education and young peoples’ services, juvenile justice and the police service. It will explore the current partnership arrangements for delivering a service to young offenders and explore their behaviour in the context of school, family, care arrangements and local communities’ expectations.

This module will cover the following topics:

• Youth Transitions – are they more problematic for those who offend – are some youth ‘disconnected’ from mainstream social expectations? 
• Great Expectations and anti-social behaviour;
• Rising aspirations and divided societies;
• Education – the role of qualification and exclusion in the quality of the schooling experience;
• Peer groups and role-models – a help or a hindrance in making positive changes?
• Restorative Justice I the role of offender/victim mediation in rehabilitation;
• Looked-after young people – the state’s record as parent and its’ impact;
• Linked Interventions – the role of partnerships in delivering an integrated service;
• From arrest to charges to court – the role of police, youth panels, social workers etc.
• Custody and Community – ‘short sharp shock’ or ‘revolving door’
• How best to punish youth crime?
• Empathy for empowerment – getting ‘on side’ with young offenders – mentoring and life-coaching skills examined;
• Managing risk to self and others – techniques of anger management, drug and alcohol awareness.

i. Knowledge and understanding
On successful completion of this module participants will be able to:
a) Critically analyse the context of youth offending e.g. school exclusion, children in care and their transitions, policy and practice regarding youth homelessness etc.
b) Evaluate the principles of risk minimisation for offenders and their community and suitable protective measures;
c) Critically evaluate Anti social behaviour orders;
d) Critically analyse the role of mentoring and informal education methods in achieving empathy and building relationships with young people
e) Critically analyse the role of the courts and non-custodial orders in managing offending.
f) Critically analyse the relationship between youth justice services and other services for young people;

ii. Skills
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
a) Practice in co-ordinating multi-agency meetings;
b) Support others who are involved in co-ordinating multi-agency meetings.

Staff/student contact: 20% (workshops and group tutorials)
Student directed learning: 80% (practice based learning experiences, learning sets, student directed learning, assignment preparation)

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.