juvenile justice, youth offending, child criminal exploitation, youth gangs
It has been a while (too long) since I last posted on the blog. I've been busy. Moving from the UK to start a new academic position as a research scientist in Texas. Completing research projects that were delayed by the pandemic. Writing a book. This is short post to announce that the book is …
Continue reading "New book- Pathways to Adolescent Violent Male Offending"
Bruce Nauman, Double poke in the eye II 1985 On 23 March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the UK Government announced a lockdown. People were restricted from all but essential travel, permitted to get out for exercise once a day, and all but essential workers were told to remain at home. I live …
Continue reading "Lockdown and Child Criminal Exploitation: An opportunity for intervention?"
Aims 1. To understand the role of specialist teams of mental health law enforcement. For this phase I will be in Houston Texas, learning about crisis intervention policing and the mental health warrant system that is in place in Harris County Texas. 2. To observe how a community organisation is working with young people and …
Continue reading "Churchill Fellowship: Executive Summary and Recommendations"
Young people who are gang involved can present a particular challenge to youth workers not least of all because any intervention needs to take account of the influence of the group in addition to the individual. Research has demonstrated that gang-involved youth pose unique and different risk factors compared to non-affiliated youth who offend. They …
Policing During the final week of my Churchill Fellowship I returned to Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 1 to learn more about the work of their Juvenile Division, which is responsible for the civil process of receiving and serving subpoenas and warrants from Harris County Juvenile District Courts. In many respects this is a parallel process …
Continue reading "Juveniles and the Criminal Justice System"
The National Gang Crime Center Conference 2019 I spent a week of my Churchill Fellowship in Chicago. This part of my research trip enabled me to observe local community interventions and also attend the annual National Gang Crime Research Center (NGCRC) Conference. The conference runs over a four-day period and brings together Academic researchers, Law …
As part of my Churchill Fellowship, I visited colleagues at the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice based just outside Louisville. My first day was spent talking to staff at one of the Day Treatment Programs in order to understand more about how the DJJ in Kentucky supports young people who have been excluded from mainstream schools, …
Crime "mentors" Criminal “mentors” have been found to influence many young people during their early involvement in crime. These “mentors” can be peers, but they are typically older people who are now recognised as exploiting young people, often for financial gain through crime (Morselli, Tremblay & McCarthy, 2006). It is crucial, therefore, when attempting to …
Continue reading "Mentors and role models for gang-involved youth"
Why MHSO? As part of my Churchill Fellowship I wanted to look more broadly at how the CJS responds to some of the key risk factors relating to gang involvement. I will be writing in a later post about how gang units in the USA can work effectively with gang involved youth and their communities …
Some parts of Chicago’s South Side have become inextricably linked to gang and gun violence. Since this is the focus of my research and the Churchill Fellowship, it seemed fitting that my visit to Chicago’s Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation (PBMR) should be located in one such area. In their own words the PBMR “sits in …
Juvenile Justice Psych 