‘If you just look at risk, people look horrific’: Youth Justice Practitioners’ Perspectives of Child First Practice

Watkinson, Georgia, Marshall, Daniel J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4795-5392 and Kewley, Stephanie (2024) ‘If you just look at risk, people look horrific’: Youth Justice Practitioners’ Perspectives of Child First Practice. British Journal of Community Justice, 19 (2). pp. 30-45. ISSN 1475-0279

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Abstract

A Child First approach in youth justice puts children at the centre of service delivery. It aims to create a system that treats ‘children as children’ with a focus on early intervention, collaboration and removing criminogenic stigma. This is seen as a positive policy shift, although it is unclear how effectively it is applied in the risk-centric context of the Youth Justice System. This paper outlines findings from interviews conducted with youth justice practitioners (N = 7) focussing on their experiences of applying Child First within their work. Using Thematic Analysis, we outline the findings from this study against the four tenets of Child First and discuss barriers to implementation. Despite determination to implement Child First, practitioners felt systemic barriers, including the external service involvement and the risk assessment tool, hindered their ability to do so. We recommend that to establish a truly Child First system, greater clarity is needed to apply the principles on the frontline, alongside an understanding of what Child First means beyond the Youth Justice context to apply the principles system wide. Further research is also required to identify variations in the application of Child First on a local level.