Locality, legitimacy and the limits of diversion: Reviewing youth justice in Jersey
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Author | Jonathan Evans,Peter Raynor,Brian Heath |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12480 |
Received: 28 May 2021 Accepted: 10 December 2021
DOI: 10.1111/ho jo.12480
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Locality, legitimacy and the limits of diversion:
Reviewing youth justice in Jersey
Jonathan Evans1Peter Raynor2Brian Heath3
1Jonathan Evans is Professor of Youth
Justice Policy and Practice, University of
South Wales
2Peter Raynor is Emeritus Research
Professor in Criminology and Criminal
Justice, Swansea University and Visiting
Professor in Probation Policy and
Practice, University of South Wales
3Brian Heath, former Chief Probation
Officer of Jersey Probation and After Care
Service, is Visiting Lecturer in Applied
Criminology, University College Jersey
and Visiting Fellow in Probation Policy
and Practice, University of South Wales
Correspondence
Jonathan Evans, Professor of Youth
Justice Policy and Practice, University of
South Wales.
Email: jonathan.evans1@southwales.
ac.uk
Abstract
This article is based on the authors’ involvement
in two reviews of Jersey’s youth justice system, car-
ried out in 2010 and 2018. The reviews provide fresh
insights into the process of moving towards a child-first,
rights-informed youth justice system; the potential of
traditional community justice to be used as a vehicle for
diversion, particularly when such culturally embedded
practices enjoy public support; and the need to adapt
strategies to the limitations of local conditions and
resources in order to ensure feasibility. These findings
support and amplify the conclusions of recent research
on how localities can shape youth justice.
KEYWORDS
diversion, Jersey, legitimacy, Parish Hall Enquiry (PHE), rights-
based welfare, youth justice
1 INTRODUCTION
The well-established concept of ‘justice by geography’ (Feld, 1991; Krisberg, Litsky & Schwartz,
1984; Thorpe et al., 1980; Tutt & Giller, 1987) has long challenged the notion that the practice of
justice can be understood solely in terms of a top-down policy implementation model within
‘national’ jurisdictions. Although some governments may attempt to narrow the scope of
professional discretion through the imposition of prescriptive national standards, practitioner
discretion cannot be eliminated completely by the will of a ‘Panopticon minister’ (Jordan,
2000, p.128). Justice, as in other areas of policy implementation, is interpreted, operationalised,
and mediated by street-level bureaucrats working at the local level (Lipsky, 1980). Musing on
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and repro-
duction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2022 The Authors. The HowardJournal of Crime and Justice published by Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Howard J. Crim. Justice. 2022;61:367–380. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hojo 367
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