Book Review: Young People in Care and Criminal Behaviour
| Date | 01 August 2006 |
| Published date | 01 August 2006 |
| DOI | 10.1177/147322540600600208 |
| Author | Ian Sinclair |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The law and policy in the book is up to September 2004 but the text is supported
by a very easily accessible website which, when looked at (January 2006), brought the
text up to September 2005 and includes the July 2005 Green Paper, Youth Matters. The
website also provides guidance for answering the end of chapter questions. A word of
warning here: for academics who want to use the excellent problem questions the
‘guidance’, while not a full answer, is a little too in-depth for use as a form of
assessment. That small point aside, the book is extremely suitable for both
undergraduates and post-graduates studying sentencing, penal policy and law, and
criminology and criminal justice. In addition its content and form will be of great use
to academics in terms of thinking not only about the subject but also as an exemplary
example of a critical teaching tool.
C. Taylor, Young People in Care and Criminal Behaviour, Jessica Kingsley
Publishers, London, 2005, £19.99 Pb, ISBN 1–84310–169–6
Reviewed by: Professor Ian Sinclair, Social Work Research and Development
Unit, The University of York, UK.
As the title implies, this book focuses on the connection between criminal behaviour
and the experience of being in care. This is a neglected topic and justification enough
for publication. In practice, however, the issues considered are of much wider
relevance. At one point or another, the author covers almost every topic of importance
in the care careers of adolescents.
As might be expected, the book begins with a survey of the relevant literature and
policy. These two chapters are, however, worthy rather than exciting. To my eyes the
survey of the literature is somewhat uncritical and certainly not comprehensive. On the
credit side the chapters introduce an unobtrusive but important theme of the book.
This is that people assume too easily that children in the care system will not amount
to much and that is completely unjustified.
The beginning out of the way, the author starts an exciting discussion of the
theoretical background to the study. This makes use of ideas from criminology on why
some individuals are not involved in crime, why others desist and why some events are
‘turning points’. The author connects these ideas to attachment theory and the concept
of resilience. As far as I know, much of this is original. Like all good work it is both
useful in itself and provides leads for others to follow.
The heart of the book is, for me, the four chapters based on 39 qualitative interviews.
The sample of care leavers was provided by personal contact and snowball methods
and included young prisoners and others who had stayed clear of crime. The author
argues that the ability to generalize from qualitative studies depends on the ability to
derive general ideas from particular data. A danger in this approach is that it can lead
to a kind of determinism. So, for example, some have noticed particular features of
institutional care and gone on to argue (incorrectly as it turns out) that all institutions
are almost bound to share the same dehumanizing effects. Claire Taylor avoids this
danger by paying attention to the deviant case that does not go the way of the others.
I found her account compelling.
Youth Justice 6(2)164
j:yj065565 19-6-2006 p:76 c:0
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