Responding To Youth Violence Through Youth Work

This book draws on the findings of a two-year European research project to offer answers to the 'problem' of how to respond to violence involving young people that continues to challenge youth workers and policy makers. 'Responding to violence through youth work' combines elements of critical theory, psychosocial criminology and applied existential philosophy to present a new model for responding meaningfully and effectively to these issues, demonstrated through a series of case studies and insider accounts generated through peer research.

"The problem of how to respond to violence involving young people continues to challenge youth workers and policy makers across Europe and the world. In this work, Mike Seal and Pete Harris draw on the findings of a two-year European research project, in which peer researchers spoke to young people, to examine different responses to youth violence."--Résumé de l'éditeur.

In this unique and passionate book, Doug Nicholls proposes a cultural revolution within youth work. He draws on the best of youth work's past to redesign the youth work map for today. He speaks with wit, wisdom and warmth to youth workers about their craft. Yet he takes no intellectual prisoners in proposing a new role for youth work in the struggle for social justice. No student or practitioner should miss it.

The problem of how to respond to violence involving young people continues to challenge youth workers and policy makers across Europe and the world. In this book, Mike Seal and Pete Harris draw on the findings of a two-year European research project--in which peer researchers spoke to young people--to examine different responses to youth violence. Developing a unique analytical framework that combines elements of critical theory, psychosocial criminology, and applied existential philosophy, the authors present a new model for responding meaningfully and effectively to these issues at personal/psychological, community/cultural, and structural/symbolic levels. Through a series of case studies, Seal and Harris show how these approaches have been applied in different practice settings. Essential reading in the fields of youth and community work, social work, criminology, youth justice, and youth studies, this book will stimulate critical new thinking and encourage reflective and theoretically informed responses to addressing youth violence in practice.

The 2008 UK government Youth Crime Action Plan emphasises early intervention in work with young people who offend or considered to be 'at risk' of offending. This approach includes targeted work with families and a reduction in the numbers of young people entering the justice system. This report takes a critical look at early intervention policies.

Relevant for experienced and emerging social work and human service practitioners alike, this book explores the uniquely challenging, yet seemingly ubiquitous issue of youth violence. It provides an authentic and accessible discussion of the theories and evidence that inform practice with youth violence alongside the voices of practitioners and the young people they work with. These voices are drawn from work with the Name.Narrate.Navigate (NNN) program for youth violence. NNN provides a trauma-informed, culturally safe preventive-intervention for young people who use and experience violence, and specialist training for the workers who support them. The program embraces creative methods as a bridge between contemporary evidence on trauma and violence and Aboriginal healing practice. The dual focus of the program is informed and interconnected by action research involving Aboriginal Elders and community members, practitioners, and key service stakeholders, including young people with a lived experience of violence. This book is ideal for use in professional cross-disciplinary programs, such as criminology, sociology, social work, and psychology, across post-secondary, vocational, and university sectors.

This report presents the findings from the first national, representative survey of public attitudes to youth crime and youth justice in England and Wales. The findings illustrate the complex and multilayered nature of public opinion on this topic. They show that the public has a more pessimistic view of youth crime than is justified by official crime statistics. While most people say that they want the youth justice system to be tougher on young offenders, many are supportive of restorative or rehabilitative approaches when presented with detail on specific cases. Youth crime and youth justice is essential reading for academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, criminology, social policy, social work and probation.