ABSTRACT
The chapter begins by setting out the socioeconomic and political conditions in which the interactions between young offenders, their parents, and professionals are embedded. It shows that socially decontextualised developmental explanations of delinquency and a belief that crime is transmitted intergenerationally through childrearing have influenced family and crime control policies since the 1970s, but such perceptions have origins in more distant modern history. The chapter critiques such understandings of youth deviance and parenting since they fail to acknowledge the material reality of families and largely ignore the selection effects of institutions according to class. It then draws on research findings in the fields of sociology, parenting studies, and criminology to demonstrate that class disparities are still reproduced through institutional working practices and professional interactions within the current educational and youth justice setting, which could be affecting young people’s life pathways. The chapter concludes by summarising alternative explanations of the intersections between delinquency, parenting, and social class that could better grasp implicit class bias when practitioners interact with families on the ground.
