DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTH JUSTICE

Development of Youth Justice



Development of Youth Justice

Introduction

Youth is the prime stage of one's life. However, there are certain practices that hinders in the establishment of emotional and spiritual stability in the youth. While a person can contribute to the society's productivity in this stage of his life; youth also exposes him to a broad range of criminal activities that diverts his aims and makes him a culprit at the hand of misery and violence. Youth crime is a disturbing symptom and consequence of social breakdown. Young people who suffer from distresses like poverty, unemployment, strained family relationships, educational failures, lack of self-esteem and extreme depression resort to crimes and end up in the youth justice system. The current youth justice system fails to provide a framework where the young offenders can get rid of all social evils and be able to lead a righteous life. Hence, while we appreciate the law and order system in U.K. for its rehabilitation efforts, we cannot admit with confidence that the youth justice system is free of faults (John, 1998, pp.78).

There are many implications of custody that seem to divert the youth against a balanced life once they have served the custody period. There are some natural and societal instincts that compel them to turn back to criminal activities with a more skilful approach and a more barbaric mindset. This trend aggravates the societal problems and creates an astounding effect on the human and financial costs of the system (John, 1999, pp. 8). This paper tends to study the advancements in youth justice system ever since the year 1997, examine the trends that associate youth with violent behaviours and crimes; governance and accountability structures, and discuss the innovativeness and uniqueness of legislation that had been passed on the topic since that time. Before this time, the youth justice discourse remained constant and did not incorporate numerous modifications. Since 1997, many laws, Acts and legislation were passed in U.K. courts that redefined youth justice system and unique and innovative legislation in this area (Hooper, 2007, pp. 123).

Discussion

From 1997, the three successive New Labor governments have formulated the most radical repair of the youth justice system since the inception of the first juvenile courts in England in 1908. These mechanisms prevented against the destructive inclinations of juvenile offenders and established innovative mechanisms to tackle the youth justice system in U.K (Holsinger, 1999, 155-172). before this time, we admit that the juvenile justice system was obsolete and included inadequate arrangements that did not prove to be effective in dealing with the custody and rehabilitation of juvenile perpetrators. The main priority of New Labor was to reform the youth justice system and to provide for an improved environment for the youngsters in conflict with the law. This also entailed establishment of an appropriate system for prosecution and addressing the educational and health needs of young offenders. According to the European Union (EU), United Kingdom falls at a lower level of child well-being in ...