Over the last forty years, diversion of young offenders from the criminal justice system has been a part of youth justice policy in Canada. Over this period of time numerous research studies have examined the effectiveness of diversion programs. Many have had similar conclusions: diversion programs do not draw the majority of their participants from court bound populations. While the purpose of diversion was to limit state intervention into the lives of young people, it has instead served to extend the arm of the law by increasing state intervention for many young offenders. Yet, despite the evidence diversion policy and programs continue to garner broad based support. This research is an attempt to understand the popularity of diversion over time and explore the purposes, beyond that of a reduction in the use of youth court, that diversion serves. This research examines two police pre-charge diversion programs in Ontario, Canada. Diversion is explored from the perspective of the police that use and operate these programs as well as from the perspective of the young people processed in them.

Over the last forty years, diversion of young offenders from the criminal justice system has been a part of youth justice policy in Canada. Over this period of time numerous research studies have examined the effectiveness of diversion programs. Many have had similar conclusions: diversion programs do not draw the majority of their participants from court bound populations. While the purpose of diversion was to limit state intervention into the lives of young people, it has instead served to extend the arm of the law by increasing state intervention for many young offenders. Yet, despite the evidence diversion policy and programs continue to garner broad based support. This research is an attempt to understand the popularity of diversion over time and explore the purposes, beyond that of a reduction in the use of youth court, that diversion serves. This research examines two police pre-charge diversion programs in Ontario, Canada. Diversion is explored from the perspective of the police that use and operate these programs as well as from the perspective of the young people processed in them.

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Research supports rehabilitative programming addressing youths’ risk to reoffend, criminogenic needs and responsivity factors with the goal of reducing reoffending. However, the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) framework takes a ‘gender neutral’ approach that critics assert overlooks the unique needs of females. It remains largely unknown whether matching treatment to RNR needs is as effective for female youth as it has been shown to be for male youth. Comparative analyses of 39 male and 37 female justice system-involved youth indicate that across RNR categories, females and males were similar in quality and quantity of needs, and had them met through probation services at a similar rate. However, while the RNR assessment tool predicted risk for recidivism equally well, the matching of services to RNR needs appears to be far more potent in reducing recidivism for boys than girls, suggesting a moderating effect of sex on the relationship between RNR matched treatment and re-offending.

Research supports rehabilitative programming addressing youths’ risk to reoffend, criminogenic needs and responsivity factors with the goal of reducing reoffending. However, the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) framework takes a ‘gender neutral’ approach that critics assert overlooks the unique needs of females. It remains largely unknown whether matching treatment to RNR needs is as effective for female youth as it has been shown to be for male youth. Comparative analyses of 39 male and 37 female justice system-involved youth indicate that across RNR categories, females and males were similar in quality and quantity of needs, and had them met through probation services at a similar rate. However, while the RNR assessment tool predicted risk for recidivism equally well, the matching of services to RNR needs appears to be far more potent in reducing recidivism for boys than girls, suggesting a moderating effect of sex on the relationship between RNR matched treatment and re-offending.

The main objective of this thesis is to make a contribution to the controversial subject of how the German youth justice system could be reformed. In this context, this thesis aims to discover innovative strategies that might be implemented into German youth justice law. As New Zealand's juvenile justice system, which was established under the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989, has become the centre of extensive international attention and has already been adopted and adapted by other jurisdictions, this thesis focuses on the question whether parts of New Zealand's legislation could be transplanted into German youth justice law. For these purposes, the method of Comparative Law is employed. Accordingly, New Zealand's and Germany's social, legal, historical and cultural background are briefly outlined and compared. This comparison reveals that an implementation of concepts of New Zealand law into German law would generally be possible. The historical development of distinct youth justice systems in both countries are presented and differences and similarities are compiled. Both countries' current youth justice legislations are then critically examined. This thesis further provides an evaluation of the practical effectiveness of New Zealand's youth justice system. In this regard, this research is exploratory and qualitative, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 10 practitioners working in the field of youth justice. The comparative and qualitative research identified many strengths as well as some weaknesses of the current youth justice system in New Zealand. Consequently, this thesis comes to the conclusion that an implementation of a youth justice forum comparable to New Zealand's Family Group Conference would be expedient and worthwhile from Germany's perspective, but that some aspects of the New Zealand system like police diversion and the formal court orders, cannot or should not be introduced in Germany. Regarding the latter topic, the comparison of both systems revealed that New Zealand might even be inspired by the German option of imposing youth prison sentences on recidivist offenders.

Mental health services provided through the Youth Offending Service (YOS) are inadequate to meet the needs of young offenders. The differing viewpoints of mental health and criminal justice are not incompatible, but require consideration in terms of how to work together. This has not occurred within youth justice, and there are tensions between the YOS and CAMHS. If the YOS structure better allowed for social justice approaches to occur within practice, these tensions could be avoided and the needs of young people better met. This research looked at the ways in which provision of mental health services impacts upon social justice within the YOS. A case study was constructed looking in detail at mental health provision, the challenges faced by mental health workers and their ability to overcome these problems. Mental health workers and managers within the YOS were interviewed to construct the case study. From this a number of issues were identified within practice that impact upon social justice, and how some youth offending teams had overcome them. From this both long and short-term suggestions and strategies for practice have been created to improve levels of social justice within youth justice practice.

Youth justice in England and Wales is a highly politicised area of government policy and youth justice provision has always been a highly contested issue. The discourse of diversion stems from debates about the purpose and effectiveness of various types of penal regimes, and particularly their effect on children and young people in trouble with the law. The process of diversion aims to remove children and young people from the formal sanctions of the criminal justice system or minimize their penetration into it, and failing that it aims to avoid incarceration. Over the years diversion has taken many forms and the extent to which children have been diverted has varied. This thesis explores the various types of diversionary practice and how they have changed over time. It explores the political, administrative and professional conditions under which diversion has been a priority and those under which it has been effective. Bernard (1992) has argued that there is a ‘cycle of youth justice’ in which responses to youth crime move from the harsh to the more lenient before swinging back again. The thesis suggests that there is a ‘spiral’ of youth justice in which different paradigms are sometimes entangled together leading to the often contradictory and complex realities of youth justice and diversion without necessarily returning to the place of origin. It concludes that, given the current fiscal climate, there is a distinct likelihood that diversion policies will gain ascendancy. However, any developments will be fragile and susceptible to unintended consequences if the ‘real’ outcomes for children and young people are not part of the motivation for reform.

This is a comparative study of how four countries –Canada, United States of America, England and Wales, and Australia –have developed youth crime related parental responsibility laws. In particular, I explore how governments have responded to calls for making parents more responsible for the criminal behavior of their children by relying on methods of governing that seek to incorporate the concept of “responsibilization” into legislation and practice. In doing so, I show how governments in a number of countries have ostensibly moved toward less state intervention in the prevention of youth criminality and have come to rely more on parents by enacting laws that acknowledge parental accountability for the criminality of children. In addition, this study uses the concept of policy transfer to examine how those responsible for developing youth criminal justice policy look to policies or laws in other jurisdictions for ways to prevent youth criminality. Despite the fact that there are similarities in legislation across the four countries examined in this study, only minimally do governments in these countries make reference to policies found in other countries. The thesis also looks at specific national and state–level government debates surrounding parental responsibility laws, and the perceptions governments elected officials have of youth criminality and parental responsibility.

My thesis examines how the contemporary restorative justice movement frames itself in educational, informational and training films, in an attempt to broaden its appeal and advance its acceptance and implementation, particularly within a culture of crime control where retribution and punishment are hegemonic. I examine contemporary restorative justice, first through an acknowledgement of its varied and diverse roots as well as through its entrenchment within the dominantly punitive criminal justice system. Contemporary restorative justice is often referred to as a social movement, and as such it maintains a capacity to reshape the current discursive terrain and transform criminal justice culture. Snow and Benford (1986, 1988) assert that social movements disrupt hegemonic discourses and practices through frame alignment tasks (diagnostic, prognostic and motivational framing) and frame alignment processes (bridging, amplification, extension and transformation). I examine how the contemporary restorative justice movement utilizes these tasks and processes in information, educational and training films, in its effort to advance an alternative perspective of criminal justice.