Youth Justice and Social Policy: Challenges in Creating Equitable Systems

Topic Information

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

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Social Sciences socsci	1.7	3.1	2012	33.1 Days	CHF 1800	Submit
Societies societies	1.6	3.0	2011	29.9 Days	CHF 1600	Submit
Youth youth	1.5	-	2021	38.4 Days	CHF 1200	Submit

Preprints.org is a multidisciplinary platform offering a preprint service designed to facilitate the early sharing of your research. It supports and empowers your research journey from the very beginning.

MDPI Topics is collaborating with Preprints.org and has established a direct connection between MDPI journals and the platform. Authors are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity by posting their preprints at Preprints.org prior to publication:

1. Share your research immediately: disseminate your ideas prior to publication and establish priority for your work.
2. Safeguard your intellectual contribution: Protect your ideas with a time-stamped preprint that serves as proof of your research timeline.
3. Boost visibility and impact: Increase the reach and influence of your research by making it accessible to a global audience.
4. Gain early feedback: Receive valuable input and insights from peers before submitting to a journal.
5. Ensure broad indexing: Web of Science (Preprint Citation Index), Google Scholar, Crossref, SHARE, PrePubMed, Scilit and Europe PMC.

Published Papers (1 paper)