ABSTRACT
It is timely to be considering ethical dimensions of the youth justice system in England and Wales. The principal aim of the youth justice system in England and Wales is the prevention of offending, and the Youth Justice Board draft strategy on prevention asserts that 'targeted and sustained early prevention programmes are needed to engage those most likely to be the offenders of the future'. This chapter concentrates on two questions which seem central to the response that society makes to young people under the age of 18. The first is about prevention -- in particular, it explores whether there is justification for the targeting of young children for intervention on the basis of factors that indicates risk of future involvement in crime. The second is the issue of the minimum age of criminal responsibility -- that at what age should children be liable to criminal prosecution, conviction and punishment as a result of their actions.
