Book Review: Diversion in Youth Justice: What Can We Learn from Historical and Contemporary Practices?

Published date01 March 2020
Date01 March 2020
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/2032284419897142
Subject MatterBook Review
Book Review
Diversion in Youth Justice: What Can We Learn from Historical and Contemporary Practices?, Roger Smith (London:
Routledge, 2017), ISBN 9781138697287, 174 pp., £77
Reviewed by: Elisabet Cueto Santa Eugenia, University of Oviedo, Spain
DOI: 10.1177/2032284419897142
‘Diversion’ is an intervention that redirects an offender from formal criminal proceedings. Its aim
is to prevent the offender from any further involvement in the criminal justice system. It is an
essential tool within youth justice because of the special nature of the subjects involved: children
and juveniles are, in general, vulnerable and still developing. Diversionary practices in England
have been changing and improving ever since they emerged in the post-war welfare state, and in
this book, Roger Smith looks closely at the historical evolution of those diversionary practices,
examining both their milestones and their flaws. His expertise is beyond doubt: he understands the
topic from the perspective of both the practitioner (as a Probation Officer specialised in youth
diversion) and the academic (he is currently a Professor of Social Work in Durham University,
following previous posts at other British universities).
The book is divided into three parts, with the first providing a general overview of the
theoretical framework needed to understand how diversion works in the youth justice sphere.
The second part presents a historical analysis of the different policies, critiques and solutions of
the British justice system with respect to diverting youth offenders. The third and final part
uses the facts narrated throughout the rest of the book in order to examine the different
approaches and paradigms that exist in youth diversion, presenting four models and their
distinctive characteristics. Lastly, the author considers diversion within the context of wider
theories of social control.
Smith starts the book by examining several concepts needed to understand youth diversion. In
order to set the scene, he theorises about age and the urge to treat children differently, defines the
ideas of crime and punishment and estates the correlation between both of them. The punchline of
this description is that children, due to their age and developmental level, should be treated
differently within the criminal justice system. This is the justification for the existence of a separate
justice system with its own pre-court decision-making process, judicial process for child suspects,
and separate sentencing framework and institutional regimes for convicted children.
All the concepts described in the first chapter lay the foundations for us to understand that the
ideas adults have about children shape the way society responds to youth crime. Preconceived
ideas about matters such as vulnerability, maturity, responsibility, guilt, culpability and mitigation
have effects on decisions and interventions in the youth justice system. Critically, this includes
decisions on whether such decisions and interventions are diversionary or not.
New Journal of European Criminal Law
2020, Vol. 11(1) 110–112
ªThe Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
njecl.sagepub.com
NJECL
NJECL

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT