The Impact of Social Reaction on Contemporary Policy Responses to Children and Young People

This chapter explores the tangible consequences of social reaction. The chapter is structured into two related parts, which critically analyse contemporary policy responses to children and young people in Britain and in Northern Ireland specifically. Each part considers the proposition that there has been a progressively punitive shift in criminal justice and youth justice policies, driven by social, political and media reactions internationally and nationally, to crises concerning children and young people. This chapter also examines policy transfer and the United Kingdom’s recent legacy relating to children, young people, anti-social behaviour and crime. It considers whether new criminal justice and youth justice policies in Northern Ireland are inheriting the UK’s legacy, by maintaining the punitive ideologies and practices promoted under periods of direct rule.