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Make Me a Criminal: Preventing youth crime
Julia Margo and Alex Stevens, Make Me a Criminal: Preventing youth crime (May 2008)
This ippr report makes the case for a more therapeutic and family-based approach to youth offending ,as opposed to the present, more punitive, system.It argues that:
- Primary-level, universal strategies must improve the capacity of communities including families, local community, schools, early years education and youth activities to socialise norms of behaviour and respect for communities. This is particularly important in light of social change affecting these institutions.
- Secondary-level, targeted strategies must improve the capacity of social services, health services and specialist programmes to both reach and improve the behaviour of the most-at-risk groups, such as those committing anti-social behaviour, showing emotional problems, or having problems at school.
- Tertiary-level reforms must improve the capacity of criminal justice system to both punish and rehabilitate offenders.
The report identifies activities that combine the appropriate level of skills acquisition, hierarchy, interaction with adult authority figures and constructive activity including:
• Regular sport, drama or arts-based activities
• Activities that involve working towards a long-term goal and in which skills are acquired
• Cadet training that combines both of the above.
