ABSTRACT
Juvenile Justice 1982-1992: A Fragile Consensus Between 1982 and 1992 three principles underpinning statutory policy responses to children and young people in trouble emerged, developed and consolidated. Diversion, decriminalization and decarceration formed the cornerstones of an innovatory and unified approach comprising ‘one of the most remarkably progressive periods of juvenile justice policy’ (Rutherford, 1995:57). The formulation and application of these principles was directed and informed by a paradoxical coalescence between elements of academic research, professional practice developments in social work with juvenile offenders, specific policy objectives of Thatcherite Conservatism, and the stated imperatives of the police and the courts to protect the public and reduce the incidence of juvenile delinquency and anti-social behaviour. Each of these ‘concerns’ combined and formed a delicately balanced consensus guiding what became known as juvenile justice through the 1980s and into the 1990s (Goldson, 1994).
