ABSTRACT
A conventional way of looking at developments in youth justice policy and practice is to see them as a reflection of changing perceptions of crime and young offenders. This, however, provides only a superficial picture. It can be better argued that the varied and different legal structures developed by modern States reflect different assumptions about the nature and value of youth and the value of property held by those States. Developments in legislation and systems of response to youth crime often reflect social and political debates that are inextricably bound up with changes in social and economic order as each society tries to develop its own pattern of response to troublesome young people (Gelsthorpe and Morris 1994). A society’s response will reflect its conceptualisation of the phenomenon of youth crime, which is related to its understanding of the roles children and young people have in that society.
