Offending Girls: Young Women and Youth Justice

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At the dawn of the twenty-first century, panic about girlsx2019; offending in Britain reached fever pitch. No longer sugar and spice, a x2018;new breedx2019; of girl, the hedonistic, violent, binge-drinking x2018;ladettex2019;, was reported to have emerged. At the same time, the number of young women entering the youth justice system, including youth custody, increased dramatically. Offending Girls challenges simplistic and demonising popular representations of 'bad' girls and examines what exactly is new about the x2018;newx2019; offending girl. In the light of enormous social and cultural changes affecting girlsx2019; lives, and expectations of them, since previous British research in this area, the book investigates whether popular stereotypes problematising female youthful behaviour resonate with the accounts of criminalised young women themselves, and to what extent they have infiltrated professional youth justice discourse. Through the lens of original detailed qualitative research in two Youth Offending Teams and a Secure Training Centre x2013; the first study of its kind since the 'modernisation' of the youth justice system over a decade ago x2013; Offending Girls questions whether the x2018;newx2019; youth justice system is delivering justice for girls and young women. It also contends that the panic about an x2018;unprecedented crime wavex2019; amongst girls is not supported by robust evidence, but that the interventionist thrust which characterises contemporary youth justice has had a particularly pernicious impact on girls. It will be key reading for students and academics working in the areas of criminology, criminal and youth justice, education, gender studies, youth studies, social work, sociology and social policy, as well as youth and criminal justice practitioners and policy-makers.

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Gilly Sharpe is Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Sheffield. She is currently engaged in research on desistance from crime, focusingparticularly on women (ex)offenders. Prior to her academic career, she spent several years working as a practitioner in youth justice and related fields.