ABSTRACT
In most western countries, a myriad of services has evolved designed to meet the needs of severely troubled
adolescents. Consequently, young people’s problems can be dealt with in any one of, or a combination of, welfare and control systems. For example, in England it is possible for a serious offender, such as a rapist, to be dealt with by social services within in the childcare system, but this is rare and most are sent by Courts to prison. In nearly all European Union states, the seriously violent adolescent can be sheltered either in prison custody, education, childcare or mental health provision; in England the latter has been viewed as a more benign and less stigmatizing option, often used by middle-class parents coping with their very difficult offspring.
