ABSTRACT
The book’s conclusion reiterates and further develops certain points concerning the government of juvenile delinquency in non-custodial measures: first, the inherent tension between the rehabilitative model and the new penology model based on accountability and risk management; second, the hybrid modes of regulation that result from the combination of different forms of professional knowledge and the strong interdependency between the professionals and the young people they work with; third, the extent to which these programmes are dependent on external settings, especially welfare state infrastructures; fourth, the complementarity of penal and welfare logics; and finally, the contractual, individualized, and discontinuous nature of control that is deployed in non-custodial measures. The argument running throughout the book is that non-custodial sentences are grounded in the late modern values of autonomy, responsibility, and reflexivity and that they imply a shift from external social control to self-control. Although these values seem to place greater emphasis on individual freedom and self-determination, they also create new forms of inequality and for those who prove unable to play by the new implicit rules, the old repressive penal system is still present.
The book concludes by looking at the benefits of these research results for professionals working in juvenile justice, particularly concerning the ability of non-custodial measures to support and encourage desistance processes.
