Introduction

This chapter will examine the way in which the ideology of neoliberalism has impacted upon and consequently reshaped the youth justice system in England and Wales in the period 1997–2010 (for policy developments during 2010–15, see Ministry of Justice 2010). Neoliberal conceptions of the role of the state have encouraged the formulation of policies based on principles of social inequality, penal expansionism and on the diminution of welfare concerns. In the neoliberal context, less attention is paid to the social contexts and social analytics of crime and more on prescriptions of individual/family/community responsibility and accountability. Neoliberal discourse emphasises eliminating the concept of the community and replacing it with individual responsibility (Gray 2001). Social problems consequently become defined in terms of the individual rather than state responsibility. The best outcomes for society will be realised when governments retreat from involvement in social programs that breed welfare dependency. This chapter will show some of the relationships between the violations of law in youth and the neoliberal model as a factor of increasing marginalisation of concern for the welfare needs of young people. It will critically examine whether the influence of neoliberalism has led to a renewed criminalisation of young people and their families and argue that society must acknowledge that it, as well as the offender, has some responsibility for youth offending.