The UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty detailed many children's poor experiences in detention, highlighting the urgent need for reform. Applying a child-centred model of detention that fulfils the rights of the child under the five themes of provision, protection, participation, preparation and partnership, this original book illustrates how reform can happen. Drawing on Ireland's experience of transforming law, policy and practice, and combining theory with real-life experiences, this compelling book demonstrates how children's rights can be implemented in detention. This important case study of reform presents a powerful argument for a progressive, rights-based approach to child detention. Worthy of international application, the book shares practical insights into how theory can be translated into practice.
The UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty detailed many children’s poor experiences in detention, highlighting the urgent need for reform. Applying a child-centred model of detention that fulfils the rights of the child under the five themes of provision, protection, participation, preparation and partnership, this original book illustrates how reform can happen. Drawing on Ireland’s experience of transforming law, policy and practice, and combining theory with real-life experiences, this compelling book demonstrates how children’s rights can be implemented in detention. This important case study of reform presents a powerful argument for a progressive, rights-based approach to child detention. Worthy of international application, the book shares practical insights into how theory can be translated into practice.
Exploring the current and historical tensions between liberal capitalism and indigenous models of family life, Ian Kelvin Hyslop argues for a new model of child protection in Aotearoa New Zealand and other parts of the Anglophone world. He puts forward the case that child safety can only be sustainably advanced by policy initiatives which promote social and economic equality and from practice which takes meaningful account of the complex relationship between economic circumstances and the lived realities of service users.
Canvassing the socio-legal context for youth detention in Australia with a focus on international human rights law and legal frameworks within Australian states and territories, this book examines the recurring children’s rights-violations of recent years, and puts forward strategies for reform. Providing a comprehensive national picture of juvenile detention legislation, policy and practices using a children’s rights framework, this book is a detailed synthesis of investigatory reports, judicial decisions and inquiries by both Royal Commissions and parliamentary committee inquiries that together establish an evidence base for assessing the compliance of youth detention with Australia’s international and domestic human rights obligations. It also proposes nine pillars for reform to help Australia move towards children’s rights compliance. A Children’s Rights Assessment of Juvenile Detention in Australia provides an invaluable resource for policy-makers, lawyers and criminologists, as well as for students of law and criminology.
Describing more than 190 leading cases and including probing commentaries and recent statistics, this provocative book is a unique tool that shows how the American legal system affects children.
The Goodwill Committee is an Egyptian governance body established within the Ministry of Justice to facilitate the amicable resolution of international parental child abduction cases. Its primary mission is to protect individual rights and promote global co-operation. This report evaluates the Committee's mandate and composition to help Egypt promote child-friendly justice and ensure that the best interests of children are embedded in Committee processes. To support comprehensive reform, the OECD assessment and recommendations focus on three areas: improving existing governance, considering multilateral ratification, and developing mechanisms to address systemic barriers and deter the occurrence of cases.
This book explores the principles, practice and challenges in determining justice system responses to serious offending by children globally. Divided into four parts, the book provides a balance of theoretical and empirical insights. Anchored in a theoretical framework based on the human rights of children, as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it considers the relationship between scientific evidence (such as brain development) and the human rights framework, before going to explore the diversity of responses to children who are found responsible for serious offences. It brings together experts from various disciplines to fill a gap relating to serious offending by children in the literature. Scholars from Africa, Latin America and Asia, as well as Europe, North America and Oceania provide perspectives from legally, socially and culturally distinct jurisdictions. The first part focuses on the theoretical framework and explores the applicable standards and principles, including the relevant human rights framework and penological approaches to sentencing children for serious crimes. The second part analyses available empirical evidence, including evidence relating to the profiles of children who commit serious crimes, child and adolescent development, effective sentencing approaches and evidence of disparities in responses to serious offending by children. The third part provides a discussion of justice system responses to serious offending by children in a range of jurisdictions or regions with diverse and distinct legal, social and cultural contexts. Finally, the book uses the theoretical framework, empirical evidence, and case studies of jurisdictions to reflect on how principles relating to responses to serious offending by children can be translated into practice, and to highlight key debates and issues that will need to be explored into the future. Adding much-needed international perspectives to the scholarship addressing the issue, this book will be of great interest to academics, students, legal practitioners and social work professionals working on youth justice and children’s rights across the globe.
The Council of Europe, of which all European States are members, plays a pivotal role in the promotion and protection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe. Bringing together specialist scholars and practitioners, The Council of Europe: Its Laws and Policies offers profound insights into the functioning of the organization. The organization's primary and secondary law, its institutional structure, and its far-reaching fields of activities are comprehensively and systematically analysed. This volume investigates the impact of the Council's activities within the national legal systems of the Member States and the dense web of relationships between the Council of Europe and other international organisations. An important reference work on one of the most influential organizations in Europe, the book concludes that the Council of Europe has played a considerable role in the constitutionalization process of regional public international law.
Children’s rights appear universal, inalienable, and indivisible, intended to advance young people’s interests. Yet, in practice, evidence suggests the contrary: the international framework of treaties, procedures, and national policies contains fundamental contradictions that weaken commitments to children’s real-world protections. Brian Gran helps us understand what is at stake when children’s rights are compromised. This insightful text grounds readers in core theories and key data about children’s legal entitlements. The chapters tackle central questions about what rights accrue to young people, whether they advance equality, and how they influence children’s identities, freedoms, and societal participation. Ultimately, this book shows how current frameworks hinder young people from possessing and benefiting from human rights, arguing that they function as cynical invitations to question whether we truly believe children are endowed with human rights. The Sociology of Children’s Rights offers a critical and accessible introduction to understanding a complex issue in the contemporary world, and is a compelling read for students and researchers concerned with human rights in sociology, political science, law, social work, and childhood studies.
This book explores the development and implementation of Child First as an innovative guiding principle for improving youth justice systems. Applying contemporary research understandings of what leads to positive child outcomes and safer communities, Child First challenges traditional risk-led and stigmatising approaches to working with children in trouble. It has now been adopted as the four-point guiding principle for all policy and practice across the youth justice system in England and Wales, it is becoming a key reform principle for youth justice in Northern Ireland, and it is increasingly influential across several western jurisdictions. With contributions from academics, policymakers and practitioners, this book critically charts the progress and challenges in establishing a progressive evidence-led youth justice system. Its dynamic and accessible integration of theory, research, policy and practice, alongside discussion of critical themes, makes it a key read for students on youth crime/justice modules and for a wider market. Stephen Case is Professor of Youth Justice in the Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy division at Loughborough University, UK. Neal Hazel is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice in the School of Health and Society at the University of Salford, UK.
