Public health approaches to youth involvement in violence: Examining stakeholders’ perspectives in Australia and the United Kingdom
| Author | Hannah Klose,Faith Gordon |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/26338076221135340 |
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Public health approaches to
youth involvement in violence:
Examining stakeholders’
perspectives in Australia
and the United Kingdom
Hannah Klose
Criminology, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
Faith Gordon
ANU College of Law, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Abstract
Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) have each witnessed a ‘punitive turn’in relation to
youth justice responses. A lack of contextualisation, such as the impact of trauma and adverse
childhood experiences on young people, is often overlooked by media outlets, governments
and policymakers, in favour of individual pathologisation of young people. In direct contrast to
these punitive responses, the public health approach (PHA) has emerged particularly in the
UK; and it identifies experiences of trauma as one of the leading causes of violence within
communities. Drawing on the perspectives of those working with children and young people,
we critically explore whether the implementation of a PHA could be an effective approach to
addressing the underlying causes of young people’s involvement in violence. The paper focuses
specifically on a case study of the youth justice system in Victoria, Australia and draws on
domestic and global perspectives of key stakeholders, to consider whether the introduction
of a PHA in Victoria, Australia, would position young people’s diverse needs at the centre
of policy change in youth justice and better outcomes for young people and communities.
Keywords
Young people, violence, trauma-informed, youth justice, public health approach
Date received: 1 September 2021; accepted: 26 September 2022
Corresponding author:
Hannah Klose, Criminology, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, Australia.
Email: Hannah.Klose@monash.edu
Article
Journal of Criminology
2023, Vol. 56(1) 98–115
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/26338076221135340
journals.sagepub.com/home/anj
Introduction
The study from which this paper is derived contributes by addressing the gap in the existing
comparative youth justice literature, surrounding alternative responses to youth involvement in vio-
lence, specifically through a public health lens. This paper considers the Victorian application of a
PHA, exploring both its current policy and practice, and what is required to fully adopt this
approach. In 2018, the Victorian government introduced significant reforms to the youth justice
system, including the enactment of reforms that took a ‘law and order’approach, with less of a
focus on rehabilitation, and more emphasis placed on punishment towards young people in conflict
with the law (see Legal and Social Issues Committee, 2018; O’Brien & Fitz-Gibbon, 2017). Despite
Australia being signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
(1989), the youth justice systems throughout Australia require ‘substantial reforms for it to conform
to international standards’(CRC, 2012; CRC, October 2019a).
The integration of a PHA, with its multi-agency and holistic approach, has generally been
successful in Scotland to respond to violence within communities and is supported in other
parts of the UK (Gordon & Klose 2020; Black et al., 2020). Primarily focussing on the
context and social determinants of violence within communities, a PHA is premised on the
understanding that young people’s well-being exists on a continuum, and that the best response
is to draw on co-operative efforts from diverse sectors, including health, education, social ser-
vices, criminal justice and policy (Pepin et al., 2018, p. 2; see also Fraser & Irwin-Rogers,
2021; World Health Organisation, 2015). As part of this study, twenty-five qualitative inter-
views were conducted with academics, practitioners and policymakers from Australia,
England, Scotland and Wales. However, since the interview data was collected, there has
been significant progress in England and Wales, with 18 regional VRUs now operating
across the country, developing and implementing a PHA to tackle serious violence and its
root causes. It should also be noted that the PHA is yet to be fully implemented in Australia
and there is inconsistency in the definition of a PHA to young people’s involvement in vio-
lence, which can determine the model’s effectiveness in reducing violence (Gordon et al.,
2021).
In critically exploring the impact of the punitive turn in Victoria’s youth justice system, this
paper will commence by outlining the need to prioritise implementing a PHA within its policy
framework. It will review literature on the PHA to violence, followed by an exploration of
empirical data that will draw on the perspectives of key stakeholders to explore whether a
PHA could effectively respond to young people’s involvement in violence. In doing so, the
article will argue that there needs to be consistent and universal definitions of the PHA, particu-
larly as this is a fast-moving area of policy and practice in jurisdictions such as England and
Wales. In the final section, the paper will draw on the empirical data findings to present recom-
mendations that advocate for trauma-informed responses, which are central to the PHA.
Drawing on key stakeholder perspectives, it will propose that compared with the current pol-
icies and practices in youth justice in Victoria, the PHA could more appropriately promote
young people’s prospects and well-being.
Literature review
This section critically engages with literature on the construction and realities of young
people’s involvement in violence in Australia. Australia and the UK have been the subjects
Klose and Gordon 99
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