Supporting children's resettlement ('reentry') after custody : beyond the risk paradigm

Hazel, N; Bateman, T

Abstract

In response to policy concerns in England and Wales and internationally, a considerable knowledge-base has identified factors statistically associated with reduced recidivism for children leaving custody. However, despite resulting guidance on how to support resettlement (‘reentry’), practice and outcomes remain disappointing. We argue that this failure reflects weaknesses in the dominant ‘risk paradigm’, which lacks a theory of change and undermines children’s agency. We conceptualise resettlement as a pro-social identity-shift. A new practice model reinterprets existing risk-based messages accordingly, and crucially adds principles to guide a child’s desistance journey. However, successful implementation may require the model to inform culture change more broadly across youth justice.

Citation

Hazel, N., & Bateman, T. (2021). Supporting children's resettlement ('reentry') after custody : beyond the risk paradigm. Youth Justice, 21(1), 71-89. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225420923761

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 12, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jun 7, 2020
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Apr 18, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 18, 2020
• Journal: Youth Justice Journal
• Print ISSN: 1473-2254
• Electronic ISSN: 1747-6283
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 71-89
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225420923761
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225420923761
• Related Public URLs: https://journals-sagepub-com.salford.idm.oclc.org/home/yjj
• Additional Information: Projects : Beyond Youth Custody