Carla Cesaroni

Young Offenders in Custody: Risk and Adjustment:

This article explored results from a study of 113 incarcerated male youths, who were age 12 to 15 at the time of their indexed offense. Using a widely used, normed measure of psychosocial functioning, the study examined the relationship between preexisting risk factors and/or institutional risk factors and adjustment in custody. Preexisting risk or vulnerability significantly predicted adjustment to custody, as did several risk factors within facilities (worry about victimization, perceiving victimization as likely, and experiencing conflicts with inmates as difficult). Risk factors associated with institutional life appeared to contribute to a young person’s adjustment beyond the risk factors a young person may walk into an institution with. One commonly used measure of institutional functioning, number of custodial rule infractions, did not appear to be a valid indicator of how a youth felt or adjusted to a facility. Limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.

Understanding the Adjustment of Incarcerated Young Offenders: A Canadian Example:

This article describes a short-term longitudinal study of the adjustment to custody of Canadian youth. It explores whether pre-existing and institutional vulnerabilities are independent predictors of custodial adjustment. Findings suggest that youth with many pre-existing vulnerabilities and high prison stress at entry into custody are more likely to experience initial adjustment difficulties. As youth spend more time in custody, their levels of pre-existing vulnerabilities remain important but perceived level of support and level of fear also emerge as important predictors of adjustment. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.

Bullying Enters the 21st Century? Turning a Critical Eye to Cyber-bullying Research

Current concerns around cyber-bullying emphasize child-victims and have prompted calls for understanding and reaction to an alleged new type of child-offender. Though there is little doubt that cyber-bullying is a phenomenon with potential for real harm, there remain a number of critical gaps in the cyber-bullying literature. This article has two primary goals: a) to confront some methodological issues surrounding the study of cyber-bullying; and b) to draw attention to the potential of established criminological theories of delinquency for explaining cyber-bullying.

The Self and the ‘Selfie’: Cyber-Bullying Theory and the Structure of Late Modernity

Abstract Purpose This paper addresses the lack of conceptual and theoretical consensus around cyber-bullying and problems associated with over-reliance on mainstream criminological thinking to explain this phenomenon. Methodology/approach The paper offers a critical criminological perspective on cyber-bullying encouraging scholars to engage with fundamental complications associated with the relationship between late-modernity, neo-liberalism and cyber-bullying. It argues for an approach that contextualizes cyber-bullying within the realities and consequences of late-modernity and neo-liberalism. Findings The paper argues that a robust understanding of cyber-bullying entails contextualization of the problem in terms of the realities of consumption, individualism, youth identity formation and incivility in late modern society. Originality/value In addition to challenging extant theoretical approaches to cyber-bullying, the paper has important implications for intervention that surpass the limitations of law and order policies which tend to focus on criminalizing poorly understood bad behaviour or indicting internet technologies themselves.

Overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in Canada’s Criminal Justice System: Perspectives of Indigenous young people

The central purpose of this study was to provide a platform for Indigenous young peoples’ opinions regarding the overrepresentation of Indigenous young people in the criminal justice system. Specifically, the study sought (a) their thoughts on broader issues that contribute to the overrepresentation of young people, and (b) strategies on how to reduce the overrepresentation of young people in the future. Results mirrored themes and findings from the research literature. However, the results are themes that are derived from the lived and observed experiences of Indigenous young people and the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Métis communities.

The Role of Fairness in the Adjustment of Adolescent Boys to Pretrial Detention

This article explores one key aspect of staff/prisoner relations—the role of fairness—as a predictor of young people’s adjustment to pre-trial detention. Participants were one hundred thirty-seven 13- to 19-year-old youth held in one of five secure youth detention centers in southern Ontario, Canada. Findings from this study suggest that youth with high levels of pre-existing vulnerability and prison stress who were more fearful and felt that staff did not treat them fairly were more likely to experience poorer adjustment. Fairness would, therefore, appear to be an important component of staff/prisoner relationships and of adjustment while incarcerated.