Diversion in Youth Justice

Roger Smith is Professor of Social Work at Durham University, UK. As a practitioner, and in a senior policy role, he specialised in youth justice, and he has pursued this area of interest in his academic research and writing (including the well-known book Youth Justice: Ideas, Policy, Practice). He has also been involved in research and publications on a wider range of subjects, including childhood (A Universal Child), social work and power (Social Work and Power), participatory methods and social work education, and he retains a continuing interest in researching and promoting children’s rights in practice (Social Work with Young People).

• Introduction, 1. Theorising Youth Diversion, 2. The Origins and Emergence of Diversion, 3. Diversion: Development and Doubt, 4. Diversion Renewed, 5. Diversion, Dangerousness and the ‘Risky Child’, 6. Another ‘U’ Turn? Diversion and Community Justice, 7. Modelling Diversion, 8. Diversion and Youth Justice: Meanings and Possibilities, References

"Diversion is a vital and yet strangely neglected and often misunderstood concept in youth justice discourse. By reclaiming diversion and by historicising, theorising and applying the concept, Roger Smith makes an indispensable and timely contribution to youth justice scholarship. His book is rigorous, challenging and provocative. It sets an agenda for new thinking and it will be widely read."- Professor Barry Goldson, Charles Booth Chair of Social Science, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, The University of Liverpool"Diversion in Youth Justice provides definitive overview of a key aspect of youth justice, bringing a critical, incisive and informed perspective to the subject and presented in Smith's inimitably accessible and dynamic writing style."- Stephen Case, Professor of Criminology and Director of Studies, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University"Diversion in Youth Justice focuses on important questions: why do we need to prosecute? Why don’t we divert more children and young people away from a system if it is ultimately damaging to them? Or is diversion from formal prosecution a mistake? Analysing shifts in thinking about diversion across time, Roger Smith offers us an account which has, at its heart, a quest for progressive social and criminal justice for children and young people who find themselves in conflict with the law, concluding that diversion itself can be transformational. The author offers deep critical reflection and analysis and a book which is both candid and searching. An essential read!"- Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe, Director of the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge