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Justice or Welfare? A Comparison of Recent Developments in the English and French Juvenile Justice Systems (From Growing Up Good: Policing the Behavior of Girls in Europe, P 96-113, 1989, Maureen Cain, ed.)

NCJ Number
119755
Author(s)
B Hudson
Date Published
1989
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper examines recent trends in policy toward juvenile offenders in England and France, with a focus on female delinquents.
Abstract
In the 1982 Criminal Justice Act, England and Wales adopted a justice model (punishment to match the severity of the offense) for the juvenile justice system. At the same time in France, the Minister of Justice sponsored a reform agenda designed to enhance the welfare aspects of French juvenile justice. At the inception of the recent reforms, England, Wales, and France already had high rates of juvenile incarceration, with girls being disproportionately institutionalized. Girls have typically been institutionalized for an overall sexualized moral deviance rather than for specific offenses. The monitoring of the results of the 1982 Criminal Justice Act by the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders shows an overall increase in the use of custody for juveniles, both absolute and proportionate. Youth custody terms are tending to be longer than the terms served under the borstal sentences which youth custody replaced. The most alarming increases in custodial sentencing have been with females. The French reforms are still being enacted, so it is difficult to compare results. The French would be advised, however, to ensure that their reforms result in a decrease in custodial sentences for juveniles. Should the institutionalization of girls increase under both the French and British systems, this would suggest that sexually discriminatory cultural factors are operating under both systems. 3 tables.