Table of Contents

1. Introduction: The Problem of Youth Crime, Part I: Young People, Criminality and Criminal Justice, 2. Children, Young People and Modernity, 3. From Justice to Welfare and its Malcontents, 4. Youth Justice and the New Conservatism, 5. New Labour and the Youth Justice System, 6. Theorising the Development of Youth Justice. Part II: Explaining Offending Behaviour by the Children and Young People, 7. Youth Offending as Rational Behaviour, 8. Biological Explanations of Youth Offending, 9. Psychological Explanations of Youth Offending, 10. Sociological Explanations of Youth Offending, Part III: The Contemporary Youth Justice System and its Critics, 11. The Coalition, the Big Society and Youth Justice Policy, 12. The Contemporary Youth Justice System, 13. Effective Youth Justice in Practice. Part IV: Alternative Youth Justice Systems and the Contemporary World, 14. Youth Justice in Wider Context, 15. Comparative Youth Justice, 16. Conclusions – the future of youth justice.