Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Since 2000 the Welsh Government’s (WG) policy has been to provide rights and entitlements to all children in Wales. However, this is not fully implemented partly due to an underspecified meaning of ‘children first’ and ‘well-being’ and their role in relation to ‘justice’. We propose that clarity could be achieved through a novel exploitation of Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach to achieving social justice. This would require the identification and mitigation of socio-structural barriers which undermine the ability of a child to live a positive life, a life where they can meet their full potential without harm to themselves or others.

Keywords

children first making rights and entitlements ‘real’ for children offenders second positive youth justice supporting young people to reach their full potential

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bateman

(2011) Punishing poverty: The scaled approach and youth justice practice. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice 50(2): 171–183.

Bateman

(2017) The State of Youth Justice 2017: An Overview of Trends and Developments. London: National Association for Youth Justice.

Bateman

Goodfellow

Little

Wigzell

(eds) (2018) Child-Friendly Youth Justice? London: National Association for Youth Justice.

Biggeri

Ballet

Comim

(eds) (2011) Children and the Capabilities Approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Blakemore

S-J

Choudhury

(2006) Development of the adolescent brain: Implications for executive function and social cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47(4): 296–312.

Braithwaite

(1989) Crime, Shame and Reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Burman

(2017) Deconstructing Developmental Psychology, 3rd Edition. Abingdon: Routledge.

Case

Haines

(2015) Children first, offenders second: The centrality of engagement in positive youth justice. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice 54(2): 157–175.

Clutton

(2007) Devolution and the language of children’s rights in the UK. In: Invernizzi

Williams

(eds) Children and Citizenship. London: SAGE, 171–181.

10.

Council of Europe (2010) Council of Europe Guidelines on Child-Friendly Justice. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

11.

Daniel

(in press) Breach and youth justice decision-making in Wales. PhD Thesis, University of South Wales, Newport.

12.

Dixon

Nussbaum

(2012) Children’s rights and a capabilities approach: The question of special priority. Cornell Law Review 97(3): 549–593.

13.

Drake

Fergusson

Briggs

(2014) Hearing new voices: Re-viewing youth justice policy through practitioners’ relationships with young people. Youth Justice 14(1): 22–39.

14.

Drakeford

(2007) Devolution and social justice in the Welsh context. Benefits 19(2): 173–180.

15.

Drakeford

(2010) Devolution and youth justice in Wales. Criminology and Criminal Justice 10(2): 137–154.

16.

Duff

(1986) Trials and Punishment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

17.

Haines

Case

(2003) Promoting positive behaviour in schools: The youth social audit. Youth Justice 3(2): 86–103.

18.

Haines

Case

(2004) Promoting prevention: A multi-agency initiative to prevent youth offending through consultation in Swansea schools. Youth Justice 4(2): 117–132.

19.

Haines

Case

(2008) The rhetoric and reality of the ‘risk factor prevention paradigm’ approach to preventing and reducing youth offending. Youth Justice 8(1): 5–20.

20.

Haines

Case

(2012) Is the scaled approach a failed approach? Youth Justice 12(3): 212–228.

21.

Haines

Case

(2015) Positive Youth Justice: Children First, Offenders Second. Bristol: Policy Press.

22.

Haines

Drakeford

(1998) Young People and Youth Justice. London: Macmillan.

23.

Haines

Case

Charles

Davies

(2013) The Swansea Bureau: A model of diversion from the youth justice system. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 41(2): 167–187.

24.

Hohfeld

(1913) Some fundamental legal conceptions as applied in legal reasoning. Yale Law Journal 23: 16–20.

25.

Hohfeld

(1917) Fundamental legal conceptions as applied in legal reasoning. Yale Law Journal 26: 710–770.

26.

Hollingsworth

(2013) Theorising children’s rights in youth justice: The significance of autonomy and foundational rights. Modern Law Review 76(6): 1046–1069.

27.

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2011) Report on juvenile justice and human rights in the Americas. Available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/children/docs/pdf/JuvenileJustice.pdf (accessed July 2018).

28.

Isenberg

Quisenberry

(2002) Play: Essential for all children. Association for Childhood International 79(1): 33–39.

29.

James

(2008) Responsibility, children and childhood. In: Bridgeman

Keating

Lind

(eds) Responsibility, Law and the Family. Aldershot: Ashgate, 145–167.

30.

Johns

Williams

Haines

(2017) Ecological youth justice: Understanding the social ecology of young people’s prolific offending. Youth Justice 17(1): 3–21.

31.

Lundy

(2007) ‘Voice’ is not enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the UNCRC. British Educational Research Journal 33(6): 927–942.

32.

McAra

(2018) Child-friendly youth justice? In: Bateman

Goodfellow

Little

Wigzell

(eds) Child-friendly Youth Justice? London: National Association for Youth Justice, 15–19.

33.

Muncie

(2011) Illusions of difference: Comparative youth justice in the devolved United Kingdom. British Journal of Criminology 51: 40–57.

34.

NESC (2009) Well-Being Matters: A Social Report for Ireland (Report Number: 119, volumes 1 and 2). Dublin, Ireland: NESC.

35.

Piaget

(1950) The Psychology of Intelligence. Abingdon: Routledge.

36.

Pierpoint

Hoolachan

(2019) Evaluation of Homelessness Services to Young People in the Secure Estate (GSR report number 30/2019). Cardiff: Welsh Government. Available at: https://gov.wales/evaluation-homelessness-services-young-people-secure-estate

37.

Posner

Rothbart

(2000) Developing mechanisms of self-regulation. Development and Psychopathology 12(3): 427–441.

38.

Rawls

(1971) A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

39.

Riyadh Guidelines (1990) United Nations guidelines for the prevention of juvenile delinquency 1990: UN resolution 45/112. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/PreventionOfJuvenileDelinquency.aspx (accessed April 2020).

40.

Sen

(1985) Well-being, agency and freedom: The Dewey lectures 1984. The Journal of Philosophy 82(4): 169–221.

41.

Sen

(1992) Inequality Re-examined. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

42.

Sen

(1999 [1985]) Commodities and Capabilities. Amsterdam; Oxford: Elsevier; Oxford India Paperbacks.

43.

Sen

(2009) The Idea of Justice. London: Allen Lane.

44.

Skuse

Matthew

(2015) The trauma recovery model: Sequencing youth justice interventions for young people with complex needs. Prison Service Journal 220: 16–25.

45.

Smith

(2014) Re-inventing diversion. Youth Justice 14(2): 109–121.

46.

Smith

(2017) Diversion in Youth Justice: What Can We Learn from Historical and Contemporary Practices? Abingdon: Routledge.

47.

Stoecklin

Bonvin

J-M

(eds) (2014) Children’s Rights and Capability Approach Challenges and Prospects. London: Springer.

48.

Thomas

(2015) Children first, offenders second: An aspiration or a reality for youth justice in Wales. PhD Thesis, University of Bedfordshire, Luton.

49.

Towler

(2006) Letter from Keith Towler to Jenny Randerson (15 September 2006) Cardiff: WAG. Available at: http://www.assembly.wales/NAfW%20Documents/children.pdf%20-%2001052007/children-English.pdf#search=uncrc%202004 (accessed April 2020).

50.

Tyler Tom

(1990) Why People Obey the Law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

51.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (1990) United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Geneva: United Nations. Available at: https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-do/un-convention-child-rights/ (accessed April 2020).

52.

Weinberger

Elvevag

Gield

(2005) The Adolescent Brain: A Work in Progress. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Available at: http://www.kvccdocs.com/KVCC/2018-Summer/PSY215/lessons/L-19/adol-brain.pdf

53.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2000a) Children and Young People: A Framework for Partnership. Cardiff: Welsh Assembly Government.

54.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2000b) Extending Entitlements: Supporting Young People in Wales. Cardiff: WAG. Available at: http://www.cywu.org.uk/index.php?id=11&detail=79 (accessed April 2020).

55.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2001) The learning country. Available at: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/5147/1/learning_country_paving_document.pdf (accessed August 2020).

56.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2002a) Extending entitlements: Support for 11-25 year olds in Wales. Available at: https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-02/direction-and-guidance-extending-entitlement-support-for-11-to-25-year-olds-in-wales.pdf (accessed April 2020).

57.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2002b) Extending entitlements: Supporting young people in Wales, direction and guidance. Available at: http://online.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/agendas/eng/ECSC20010412/REP13.htm (accessed April 2020).

58.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2004) Record of Proceedings (14 January). Cardiff: WAG.

59.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2005) Extending entitlements. Available at: http://gov.wales/topics/people-and-communities/people/children-and-young-people/participation/extendingentitlement1/wtresponses?lang=en (accessed April 2020).

60.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2007) Rights in Action: Implementing Children and Young People’s Rights in Wales. Available at: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7701/1/090415rightsinactionen.pdf (accessed August 2020).

61.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2008) The learning country: Vision into action.

62.

Welsh Government (WG) (2009a) Priorities for Wales: Taking Forward the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Cardiff: WG.

63.

Welsh Government (WG) (2009b) UNCRC action plan for Wales – Getting it right. Available at: http://www.childreninwales.org.uk/news/news-archive/getting-it-right-an-action-plan-for-wales-201109-w/ (accessed April 2020).

64.

Welsh Government (WG) (2011) Rights of Children and Young People (Wales) Measure. Cardiff: WG.

65.

Welsh Government (WG) (2014) Children and Young People. Available at: http://gov.wales/topics/people-and-communities/people/children-and-young-people/?lang=en (accessed April 2020).

66.

Williams

Llywelyn

(2016) An independent evaluation of the Dyfed-Powys Bureaus Wales: Welsh Centre for Crime & Social Justice. Available at: https://wccsj.ac.uk/publications-research/printed/2016 (accessed April 2020).

67.

Youth Justice Board (YJB) (2006) Barriers to Engagement. London: YJB.

68.

Youth Justice Board (YJB), Cymru and Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (2004) All Wales youth offending strategy. Cardiff: WAG.

69.

Youth Justice Board (YJB), Cymru and Welsh Government (WG) (2014) Children and young people first: Youth justice strategy 2014. Available at: http://gov.wales/topics/people-and-communities/communities/safety/youthjustice/children-and-young-people-first/?lang=en (accessed April 2020).

Applying Sen’s Capabilities Approach to the Delivery of Positive Youth Justice

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References