Introduction

With New Labour's ascent to power in 1997 came a ‘new youth justice’ (Goldson, 2000). In this reformed system, the assessment and management of risk has been given a pivotal role. All young people referred to Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) in England and Wales are now assessed using a common, structured risk assessment profile known as Asset. This is intended to guide practitioners’ judgements as to the ‘riskiness’ of a young person and to enable them to identify the precise ‘risk factors’ contributing to their offending behaviour such that interventions can be tailored to individual needs. Asset is also expected to influence decisions about resource allocation both within YOTs and at regional and national levels under the auspices of the Youth Justice Board (YJB) (Baker, 2004). The accurate assessment of risk is therefore ‘central to achieving the principal aim’ (YJB, 2003, p 13) of the youth justice system – the prevention of offending by children and young people.

Prevention operates either side of risk and both inside and out of the youth justice system. In the aftermath of a legal transgression, once the risk factors precipitating a young person's offending behaviour have been identified using Asset, interventions to prevent further involvement in crime, based on knowledge of ‘what works’, can be set in place. But equally, because it is ‘known’ what the main risk factors are, pre-emptive action can also be taken. Thus, governmental schemes covering young people's transition from cradle to rave – Sure Start, the Children's Fund, Youth Inclusion Programmes, Connexions – all carry with them the promise that they will serve to prevent youth crime in the years to come.

This chapter attempts to tell the story of how the language of, and policies and practices associated with, risk in the new youth justice have come to hold such significance and to assess the consequences of these changes. It suggests that current policy constitutes a blend of particular academic, administrative and political discourses each of which define and mobilise the concept of risk in different ways. The chapter also attempts to evaluate the impact of recent reforms in the context of wider debates about risk assessment and management in the criminal justice system.

New Labour, new youth justice

In No More Excuses (Home Office, 1997), the White Paper outlining New Labour's plans for tackling youth crime, the language of risk was very much evident.