Introduction

Offending is often associated with younger members of the community, predominantly young adults (McNeill and Batchelor, 2004). Much of the original research into ‘What Works’ was conducted upon cohorts of male offenders between the ages of 17 and 21 (Roberts, 1989; Andrews et al, 1990; Lipsey, 1992). Evidence-based practice, therefore, started with young offenders, and those age-specific principles have, ironically, been applied widely across the adult offender population.

In this chapter youth will be loosely defined as young people between the ages of 10 (the age of criminal responsibility) and 21 (the point at which young offenders formally enter the adult prison system), the main emphasis being upon work with those in the middle of this age range.

The peak age of offending in 2000 was 15 for women and 18 for men. Rates of offending begin to decline significantly after the age of 25. By 35 people are less likely to be found guilty of, or cautioned for, indictable offences (National Statistics Online, 2006).

This statistical ‘bulge’ in offending provokes questions about how far young people per se are prone to delinquency or, conversely, how far the way society treats its young people criminalises behaviour which is sometimes part of the process of individuation to ‘grow into’ adulthood. Other questions that arise include why and how youth and crime are associated, how to work within formal organisational frameworks with individuals who are often particularly prey to uncertainty and disorganisation, and how to accommodate the multiple needs of young people whilst retaining a focus on their offending behaviour. These questions are relevant not simply to those who work within the formal youth justice system, but to anyone working with offenders where their youth and maturity is an issue.

In this chapter the focus is upon the challenge for practitioners of understanding and addressing the fluid dynamics, the mercurial nature, of a young person's journey from adolescence to adulthood.

Consequently, the chapter is not specifically about how to work with young offenders as defined by statute (for example in the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act), or about the system within which that work takes place, although there is considerable contemporary debate about both (see Smith, 2003; Squires and Stephen, 2005; Goldson and Muncie, 2006).