Abstract

Within youth justice, there are signs that a socially just approach is being developed. Initiatives such as positive youth justice, Children First Offenders Second, and the Surrey model all utilise aspects of social justice, and have been praised for their innovation. This chapter considers all of these approaches in relation to the applied principles of social justice, and identifies areas of good practice. Whilst change is occurring in isolated areas, and has been noticed by policymakers, for this to be applied in a truly effective way, we need to consider why this works, rather than simply what works. This chapter argues that unless we consider the underlying values, ideology, and principles of youth justice, the same issues will reoccur again and again. To develop a system of youth justice that carries out work that is both efficient and effective, those within the system need to accept that their work has inherently philosophical roots, and allow this to support the organisation and resulting practice.