New Labour’s youth justice reforms have left progressives disappointed by a failure to take more radical steps to raise the age of criminal responsibility and phase out penal custody. This paper argues that the basic punitive orientation governing youth justice policy was established in the early 1990s, in the wake of concern about persistent juvenile offenders and the high-profile James Bulger case. The punitive orientation of policy is apparently supported by public opinion, or at least the perception of public opinion held by policy makers. The paper summarises what is known about public attitudes to adult and juvenile offenders and suggests a strategy to increase understanding and raise the level of debate, which are prerequisites for any fundamental change in policy orientation.
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