Kerry Carrington and Margaret Pereira, Offending youth: Sex, crime and justice
| Author | Alison Cleland |
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865815575351 |
| Date | 01 December 2015 |
| Published date | 01 December 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology
2015, Vol. 48(4) 588–602
!The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865815575351
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Book Reviews
Kerry Carrington and Margaret Pereira, Offending youth: Sex, crime and justice. The Federation Press:
Sydney, 2009; 211 pp. ISBN 978-1-86287-759-7, $55 AUS (pbk)
Reviewed by: Alison Cleland, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Over the years, key areas of youth justice scholarship, such as the causes of youth
offending and ‘‘what works?’’ have been comprehensively explored through a wealth
of books and articles. Readers of a new text may, quite justifiably, expect that the
material is unlikely to provide a fresh appreciation of what they have read previously.
Carrington and Pereira confound that expectation. They set out their hope in the introduc-
tion: that sound policy decision making will continue to support the philosophy of diversion as a
more effective response to reducing juvenile crime. Employing accessible, direct and engaging
writing, the authors aim their text at a broad readership. The reader feels like a participant in a
conversation with exceptionally knowledgeable commentators, about the reality of life in
Australia for many young people and the circumstances that lead them into crime.
Readers hoping for comprehensive discussions of the relevance of criminological
theories to young people’s criminal behaviour may be a little disappointed. Chapter 3
gives a broad overview of theories that link youth, sex and crime. Strain theory, deviance
theory, delinquency and drift and moral panics are all referenced, but more detailed
analysis of the operation of these, and particularly of the intersections between them
when considering young people in Australia, would have been interesting. Theories
relating specifically to females, males and indigenous young people – including sexual-
isation, masculinity theories and over-policing – appear in the chapters dealing with
offending by girls (chapter 4), boys (chapter 5) and aboriginal youth (chapter 6).
This results in a fragmentation of the discussions that may be slightly distracting.
The authors’ nuanced appreciation and understanding of several intersecting aspects
of their topic leads them, on occasion, to assume that their readers understand key
concepts without the need for further explanation. For example, ‘‘the science of child
welfare’’ is discussed briefly, but is not explored in any depth, so that the reader may not
appreciate the sociological and psychological developments that were said to be inform-
ing social work practice at the time. The practice of ‘‘policing families through children’’
is highlighted and criticised, but again, the theory and practices that regarded children as
products of their dysfunctional families are not considered at length.
Instead – and arguably this is more powerful – the authors refer to extracts from
Carrington’s own research, which appear in an appendix. This research was presented previ-
ously in Carrington’s 1993 work on delinquent females. Its power lies in the stories of young
women’s behaviour that was constructed as criminal, when their ci rcumstances showed neg-
lect, deprivation and abuse. The authorities used truancy, absconding and ‘‘being uncontrol-
lable’’ to legitimate their punitive welfare approaches to these young women.
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