THE CRIMINALISATION OF YOUTH

Transformations of the criminal justice systems in Western societies are often linked with broader social and cultural changes. This kind of analysis can also be made for the evolutions of juvenile justice. The aim of this book is to present the recent transformations of youth criminalisation processes and juvenile justice systems in nine European countries, Canada and Turkey, with a focus on the socio-political context in which they take place.
Can we speak of a general 'punitive turn' in juvenile justice today? How important is the resistance of the traditional welfare or 'tutorial' youth justice model? What is the influence of human rights on the juvenile justice system's evolution? Does the increasing populism in the media influence the criminalisation process? Whatis the impact of the victimization movement on the juvenile justice practices?
In order to emphasize convergences and divergences in the transformations of youth justice in such a perspective, we have favoured an approach on legislations and practices, including custodial sanctions and alternative sanctions.
If similar evolutions are to be seen in many countries, there are also differences, which illustrates the fact that changes in juvenile justice are the effect of complex interactions between social, economical, cultural and political factors.