Book Reviews: Assessment in Youth Justice
| Author | Sean Creaney |
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225412461217a |
| Published date | 01 December 2012 |
| Date | 01 December 2012 |
Book Reviews 271
tion, with schools, courts and police in different areas adopting varying strategies.
The adolescent interviewees stated that the randomness and inconsistency of the offi-
cial response showed the confusion and hypocrisy of adults towards drugs, especially
in respect of cannabis. The moral authority of ‘The Law’ was seen as badly under-
mined due to this: ‘this does little to facilitate citizenship and much to further disen-
chant young people in respect of politics, policing and public services’ (p. 213).The
neglect of the public-health dimension is highlighted as of particular concern, and
strongly linked to the emphasis on a ‘War on Drugs’ rather than an education and
reduction of harm approach. The authors highlight the obvious, but surprisingly little
discussed, issue that illicit drugs are ‘quality unassured’, and have not been tested,
regulated or codified in any official way. They point to the problems with badly cut
drugs, citing that a proportion of drug deaths each year are linked to either impurities
or exceptional and unexpected heroin purity. This is significant when young Britons
ingest ‘tens of millions of doses of illicit drugs each week’, which are entirely unreg-
ulated and uninspected (p. 214). This problem is further compounded by the reluc-
tance of successive governments to conflate tackling under-age alcohol consumption
and drug use, as mixing alcohol and drugs is reported by a number of the cohort to be
a source of bad experiences. The government has no message on this, and is also rela-
tively silent on drug-driving, compared to the substantial outlay on campaigns to stop
drink-driving.
The book concludes by reflecting that 12 years ago, when the initial empirical findings
were published, the authors believed the analysis presented should support an approach of
decriminalization and harm reduction. It was instead used by the media and government
to call for increased enforcement and prevention, and a reduction in funding for harm
reduction initiatives. The final striking observation is that at age 27 years, many of the
original cohort who were still in touch with the interviewers were in stable relationships
and had jobs, homes and even children – and yet were still continuing to take recreational
drugs. This highlights not only a perhaps surprising attachment to recreational drug-
taking into post-adolescent adult life, but also that the drug-taking has not prevented the
possibility of a ‘normal’ life, accommodated as it is within home, work and family com-
mitments.
References
Aldridge J, Measham F and Parker H (1998) Illegal Leisure: Normalization of Adolescent Recreational Drug
Use. London: Routledge.
Beck U (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: SAGE.
Leitner M, Shapland J and Wiles P (1993) Drug Usage and Prevention. London: Home Office.
Plant M and Plant M (1992) Risk-Takers: Alcohol, Drugs, Sex and Youth. London: Tavistock/Routledge.
Baker K, Kelly G and Wilkinson B Assessment in Youth Justice, Policy Press, Bristol, 2011,
£19.99 Pb, ISBN: 978-1-84742-636-9.
Reviewed by: Sean Creaney, Centre for Education and Applied Social Sciences, Stockport College,
Stockport, UK.
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