Susan McVie

The usual suspects? Street-life, young people and the police

This article explores childrens experience of policing. Drawing on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, it argues that the police may be unfairly targeting certain categories of young people. Evidence is presented on the ways in which police working rules (relating to previous ‘form’ and suspiciousness) serve to construct a population of permanent suspects among children. While street-life places youngsters at greater risk of adversarial contact, ‘availability’ by itself, cannot explain this aspect of policing practice. The police appear to make distinctions about the respectable and unrespectable, children who can be accorded leniency and those who cannot; distinctions which are based as much on socio-economic status as serious and persistent offending. The article concludes that the police act less as legal subjects and more as class subjects in their interactions with young people and that the policing of children may serve to sustain and reproduce the very problems which the institution ostensibly attempts to contain or eradicate.

Youth crime and justice: Key messages from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime

Based on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, this article challenges the evidence-base which policy-makers have drawn on to justify the evolving models of youth justice across the UK (both in Scotland and England/Wales). It argues that to deliver justice, systems need to address four key facts about youth crime: serious offending is linked to a broad range of vulnerabilities and social adversity; early identification of at-risk children is not an exact science and runs the risk of labelling and stigmatizing; pathways out of offending are facilitated or impeded by critical moments in the early teenage years, in particular school exclusion; and diversionary strategies facilitate the desistance process.The article concludes that the Scottish system should be better placed than most other western systems to deliver justice for children (due to its founding commitment to decriminalization and destigmatization). However, as currently implemented, it appears to be failing many young people.

Negotiated order: The groundwork for a theory of offending pathways:

This article explores the role which formal and informal regulatory orders play in the development of offender identity. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, it argues that the cultural practices of formal orders (such as those imposed by schools and the police) and informal orders (such as the rules governing peer interactions) mirror each other in respect of their fundamental dynamics – animated primarily by an inclusionary–exclusionary imperative. Formal orders differentiate between categories of young people on the basis of class and suspiciousness. Informal orders differentiate between individuals on the basis of adherence to group norms, territorial sovereignty, and gender appropriate demeanour. Being excluded by either set of orders undermines the capacity of the individual to negotiate, limits autonomy and constrains choice. This renders the individual more likely to absorb identities ascribed to them with damaging consequences in terms of offending behaviour and the individual’s sense of self.

The Impact of Bullying Perpetration and Victimization on Later Violence and Psychological Distress: A Study of Resilience Among a Scottish Youth Cohort

This article examines the impact of bullying between age 13 and 16 years on negative outcomes at age 17 years, taking into account various resilience factors at the individual, family, and community level. Using longitudinal data from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, a prospective cohort study of around 4,300 young people in Scotland, the impact of bullying perpetration on later engagement in violence and the impact of bullying victimization on later psychological distress are modeled. The analysis finds significant resilience factors, which reduce violence and psychological distress in late adolescence; however, even when controlling for such factors, both bullying perpetration and bullying victimization are strongly predictive of later negative outcomes. The findings support policy responses that implement early and effective interventions within schools to both prevent bullying and improve individual resilience to its long-term effects.

Alternative models of youth justice: lessons from Scotland and Northern Ireland

Purpose – Widespread criticism of the youth justice system in England and Wales has resulted in calls for it to adopt a restorative paradigm. This paper seeks to review the historical development of youth justice in neighbouring Scotland and Northern Ireland.Design/methodology/approach – The historical development of youth justice in Scotland and Northern Ireland is reviewed with a view to learning lessons from these two very different models, compared to the current model in England and Wales.Findings – It is argued that those tasked with reforming the system in England and Wales must understand the underlying political, cultural and social contexts in which alternative models have developed and satisfactorily resolve the conflicting needs and rights of the offender versus those of the victim, community and wider public.Originality/value – Transfer of policy and practice from other jurisdictions requires careful consideration of their political, cultural and social contexts but England and Wales may bene...

Trust in the Police and Police Legitimacy Through the Eyes of Teenagers

Earlier sweeps of the International Self Report Delinquency Survey (ISRD) made no attempt to cover teenagers’ attitudes towards criminal justice institutions. ISRD3 goes a little way to filling this gap by including a short suite of questions on trust in the police and perceptions of police legitimacy, that sets out to see if well-established insights into adults’ attitudes, built on procedural justice theory, also hold true for teenagers. Results are presented in this chapter. To anticipate our conclusions, the results very largely reflect those that have emerged internationally for adult samples: that trust in procedural justice is a precondition for legitimacy, reducing preparedness to break the law, and that the quality of teenagers’ experience of the police is a clear determinant of their trust in the police.

Getting It Right for Every Child? Juvenile Justice in Scotland

The aim of every juvenile justice system should surely be to get it right for every child? It is poignant then that, after a very turbulent period of juvenile justice policy development in Scotland which threatened to get it wrong for many children, the Scottish system is now predicated on a set of principles enshrined in law that are explicitly known as Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC). This chapter provides a brief history of juvenile justice in Scotland before going on to examine the age of criminal responsibility (which currently stands at 8 years) and how this fits with the country’s stance towards the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It then provides an overview of trends in juvenile crime in Scotland, focusing mainly on the last decade, from a range of sources of information. It examines the role played by various agencies in relation to juveniles, including the police, the courts and the prison system, as well as discussing various alternative sanctions. Finally, it discusses some of the main gender differences in juvenile crime and justice system involvement in the Scottish context.