ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the 'punitive turn' of the early 1990s, and the consequences for diversion, with the re-emergence of dangerousness and the 'risky child'. By the beginning of the 1990s, the strengthening alliance between policy makers and professionals seemed to be on the point of achieving a further consolidation, with the publication of a fresh White Paper, Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public. By the early 1990s, there appeared to be a coherent approach to diversion in place, and despite some persistent regional variations, the trends were all in the same direction. In 1992, with the number of arrests still in decline, the percentage of young offenders cautioned had reached over 71 per cent even for males aged 14–16. The alarmist rhetoric of the 1990s had certainly contributed to the establishment of a new and more controlling mood amongst policy makers and criminal justice agencies.
