Routledge Understanding Youth Crime: An Australian Study (Routledge Revivals)

This title was first published in 2003. Adolescence is popularly understood as a transitional phase of turbulence and extremes. It is also often associated with 'trouble'. Criminal justice statistics, however, reveal that youth criminality remains a relatively rare phenomenon, less than one percent of the total adolescent population in any given year. This exceptional book is based upon a major Australian research programme to consider the key social factors impacting upon the lives of young people. A sample of 1,300 young people was divided into three major subgroups: a 'control' group, drawn from state secondary schools and closely approximating the general population; a chronically marginalized cohort representing a 'vulnerable group', and a group of offenders, most of whom were incarcerated at the time of the research. With its rich data source and highly integrated structure, the book makes a major contribution to our understanding of adolescent criminality and associated policy both in Australia and internationally. Review ’This book sheds important new light on the subject of adolescent criminality. From their imaginative research design and impressive data set, the authors have crafted a valuable work that should be required reading for scholars and practitioners of juvenile justice.’ Professor Peter Grabosky,The Australian National University, Australia ’This book offers a first-rate collection of scholary papers drawing from a comprehensive  Australian research program exploring young people and their involvement in crime. It is an essential reader for youth workers, scholars, and policy makers interested in understanding more about young people and their law-breaking as well as their law-abiding behaviours.’ Dr Lorraine Mazerolle, Griffith University, Australia ’...thorough and well-informed work.’ Weekly Law Digest ’The whole book has both practical and theoretical value...This book has relevance for lawyers, police workers and other justice professionals, psychologists, family counsellors and human service workers, and, of course, policy makers who need to absorb this book’s wisdom.’ Journal of Family Studies ’This is essential reading for practitioners, academics, students and policy makers in the field of youth justice. The research is imaginative and methodologically impressive....’ Youth Justice ’This outstanding and brilliant research study...is a fabulous, comprehensive, well-written book on youth crime and should be required reading for anyone working with our youth in any country of origin, not just those dealing with delinquent youth.’ International Criminal Justice Review About the Author John S. Western is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Australia. Mark Lynch is Deputy Director of the Research and Prevention Division, Crime and Misconduct Commission, Australia. Emma Ogilvie is Principal Policy Officer in Criminal Justice Research at the Department of the Premier and Cabinet in the Queensland Government.