Governing Youth Justice

This research explored how youth justice policy comes to take the form it does. It builds on an ethnographic study of the operation of the Youth Justice for England and Wales (YJB), the non-departmental public body (NDPB) responsible for the oversight of the English and Welsh youth justice system, to explore the complex social relations and practices that now comprise the central governance of youth crime in England and Wales. Research followed the YJB through several stages of its development, including the controversial proposal to abolish it under the Public Bodies Act 2012 and its subsequent reprieve, drawing on depth interviews with key political actors involved.