Book Review: Dealing with Young Offenders
| DOI | 10.1177/000486588902200407 |
| Author | Terry Carney |
| Date | 01 December 1989 |
| Published date | 01 December 1989 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
BOOK REVIEWS
277
(and
the
public), a
deeper
understanding
of
these issues
is
not
sufficient
to
ensure
that
police managers will
take
advantage
of
the insights, conclusions
and
recommendations provided through sound research
and
analysis.
Thus,
the
book
is
an
admonishment
to
everyone with agood idea
about
improving policing -
planned
and
directed change
is
not
self-implementing.
The
most significant contribution this
book
can
make
to
the
discussions
and
debates
about
contemporary
police
work
in Australia is contained in aconcluding
statement
made
by Professor
David
Bayley.
He
notes,
"Compared
with overseas
police forces, Australia has an unusually favourable environment for re-examining
policing".
Whether
the
crisis in policing which has occurred in Britain
and
the
United
States will
be
avoided in Australia
is
at this time unclear.
Although
the
climate may
be
conducive to improving, questioning,
and
refining
the
management
and
operations
of
the
police,
the
benign environment can just as easily lead
to
a
sense
of
complacency. Thus, while
there
is
an opportunity
to
reflect
on
the
willingness
and
ability
of
police to
prosper
in an environment
of
rapid
change,
the
capacity
of
the
police
to
take advantage
of
that
opportunity
may
be
lacking.
The
evidence for his view consumes agood portion
of
the
space in this brief,
but
important,
collection
of
articles.
The
challenge, therefore,
presented
by
the
articles
in this
book
is for
both
academics (including students)
and
practitioners
to
take
advantage
of
the
skills each can bring to
bear
to improve
the
strengths
and
resolve
the
weaknesses
of
policing in Australia.
Palmerston North
DAVID
BURNS
Dealing with Young Offenders,
John
Seymour,
The
Law
Book
Co,
(1988) 495 +xxx
pp,
$49.50.
Seymour's
Young
Offenders
is
the
first comprehensive
treatment
of
the
law
and
practice governing young offenders in
each
of
the
Australian States
and
Territories.
The
scholarship
and
depth
of
analysis will
mark
it as
the
leading
work
for
many
years to corne.
The
book
is in two main parts.
Part
one
deals with
the
history
of
young offender
law
and
policy from
the
reception
of
British law to
the
present.
Over
three
Chapters,
and
170 pages, Seymour charts
the
course
of
legal, political
and
social
developments in
each
of
the Australian jurisdictions.
Part
two covers
current
law
and
practice. This is
the
core
of
the
book
-accounting for six
Chapters
and
240
pages
of
text. Aconcluding
chapter
"Patterns
and Problems" ties
the
two main
parts
together·and
looks
to
the
future.
Three
short
appendices set
out
further
details
of
legislative developments, statistical information, and analyses
of
the
effectiveness
of
correctional measures.
Young Offenders
is
directed mainly
to
the
audience
of
lawyers
and
para-legal
workers who might have dealings with young people in
trouble
with police for
alleged offences.
As
is
to be expected from
the
Commissioner responsible for
the
thorough
and
creative
report
on
Child Welfare, written for
the
Australian Law
Reform
Commission in
1981
(Child Welfare,
AGPS:
Canberra),
this
book
admirably
meets
the
expectations
of
practitioners.
As
with his earlier
book
on
the
South
Australian
system (Juvenile Justice in South Australia, Law
Book
Co: Sydney
1~83),
each
stage
of
the
process is covered. However, somewhat
greater
emphasis
is
rightly placed
on
two points. First,
the
pre-court processes (such as police
inyestigation
and
questioning)
and
the
police cautioning schemes
or
the
qQasi-judicial "juvenile panels" which aim (not always successfully)
to
provide
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