Families, Crime, and Juvenile Justice

Traditionally, studies on juvenile crime have remained largely silent on the lived experiences of family members. Amid all the public condemnation of "neglectful" parents and "irresponsible" offenders, little or no space has been given to the voices of those actually caught up in the workings of the criminal justice system. Families, Crime and Juvenile Justice by Richard Hil and Anthony McMahon addresses this omission. By focusing on the families of a small group of juvenile offenders in a northern Australian city, this book highlights the many and varied attempts by parents and others to grapple with their son or daughter's offending. It also demonstrates the effects of such offending on the family as a whole and the often less-than-positive outcomes of state intervention. The accounts of parents and others are set in the context of recent family-oriented developments in juvenile justice.

Richard Hil is Lecturer in Justice Studies at Queensland University of Technology (Australia).