Youth Justice and Social Policy: Challenges in Creating Equitable Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Youth and juvenile justice systems globally face multiple challenges in creating equitable conditions and outcomes for the children and young people with whom they work. These challenges include, but are not limited to, tackling and mediating the social and individual barriers, disadvantages, and unmet needs that children who offend experience disproportionately in their daily lives and through contact with formal ‘support’ systems, including:

-Structural: Socio-economic disadvantage, poverty, inequalities

-Systemic and interpersonal: Prejudice, discrimination, inequitable treatment, criminalization through punitive-facing  justice policies and processes

-Individual: Multiple complex needs, trauma, adverse childhood circumstances, neurodiversity, care experience, special educational needs

This special edition invites contributions from international authors that explore jurisdictional youth/juvenile justice systems in relation to the barriers, enablers, opportunities, and challenges they face in constructing and delivering equitable forms of justice for children. In particular, authors are invited to examine and evaluate notions of ‘equitable’ justice and what these might mean for the ways in which children and young people in youth/juvenile justice systems are understood and treated, and for the outcomes that they experience during and following contact with formal justice systems. As a guide (but not an exhaustive or definitive list), ‘equitable’ systems of youth justice and/or social policy might focus on procedural justice, disproportionately of diverse populations and other vulnerable groups, adulterization, empowerment and disempowerment, competing rights, and access to justice.

Prof. Dr. Stephen Case
Dr. Kathy Hampson
Prof. Dr. Neal Hazel
Topic Editors