ABSTRACT
Mel Lloyd-Smith reviews the complex system of provision that has developed to respond to children and young people whose behaviour is viewed as unacceptable by those in authority. This system, which has expanded rapidly in the past twenty years, is composed of educational provision such as special units for disruptive children, provision run by social services departments such as Community Homes, and the juvenile justice system. These diverse institutions reflect equally diverse professional and lay attitudes towards the treatment of deviant young people. Mel Lloyd-Smith argues that concerns about the detailed operation and effects of different forms of provision should not obscure the general risk of increasing deviance by placing children and young people in special provision.
