The relationship between criminality and home background

There are two extensive literatures which deal with this subject. One is that on criminality, defining the distinctions between morality and cultural definitions. The other is on how parents ought to influence their offspring. And there is also a smaller literative on the causal or statistical relationship between the two. This research tradition attempts to isolate particular hypotheses—like lone parents or genetics. What is missing is both a study of why certain influences are significant, and a connection between the actual cases of criminality and criminals' own experiences of their parents. For this purpose lengthy semistructured interviews with young offenders were carried out, exploring their memories and perceptions of home life and their attitudes to their parents and their subsequent experiences. This paper discusses the factors that the interviewees raised consistently, openly and articulately; violence in the home, neglect, laissez-faire: and turning to peer groups for alternative support. At the heart of the evidence lies a lack of dialogue and the perception of a lack of active interest in them by parents. The consequences are discussed, including the inability to develop normal social relationships, leading to frustration and the repetition of violence in the home in different circumstances.     

The interface between the child welfare and criminal justice systems in England

The development of government guidance can seem a mysterious process to those outside government. This paper, which draws on the author's experience, is intended to give some insight into how guidance in two areas—child witnesses and children involved in prostitution—was developed within the existing legal framework. Since that time, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 has come into force in England and Wales and the Children Bill is currently before Parliament. The paper begins by setting out the key legislation, regulations and guidance that underpinned the child welfare and criminal justice systems as they related to child protection at the time the guidance was being developed. It then describes how the different guidance documents relate to each other and the implications for practice. The development of speci?c guidance is drawn upon to illustrate some of the tensions that had to be resolved during the drafting and the processes by which they were ?nalized for approval by the Government. A key area requiring careful consideration was the differences between the family and criminal justice systems. In the former, the welfare of the child is paramount when making decisions and in the latter, the court has a duty to ensure the defendant has a fair trial. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beyond normalization and impairment: theorizing subjectivity in learning difficulties – theory and practice

Normalization and social role valorization continue to play a central role in shaping debates and practice relating to learning difficulties. In the context of recent arguments this paper draws on the work of Foucault to deconstruct these theories. Foucault’s work alerts us to a conceptual confusion at their heart which reproduces a common but problematic individual–society dualism. There is an implicit, and problematic, presence in the theories of a pre‐social individual conceived as having essential impairments and who is passive in the face of negative socialization. We propose that Foucault’s ‘ethical’ domain of inquiry, with its concern for how people actively understand themselves and govern their conduct in relation to specific values and a ‘truth’ that they are obliged to recognize in themselves, provides the basis for returning the individual‐as‐subject to theories in an active, critical manner.     

Syntactic variation and beyond: Gender and social class variation in the use of discourse‐new markers1

The paper explores the relations between syntactic variation and the large‐scale social dimensions of gender and social class. It argues on the basis of an analysis of the marking of discourse‐new entities in interview speech that syntactic variants may frequently be involved in sociolinguistic variation, but indirectly, as just one of a broad set of choices that includes forms drawn from other components of language besides syntax. The analysis shows that although there is no sociolinguistic variation in the use of the strategies speakers use to mark discourse‐new information, there are significant social class and gender differences in the use of Noun Phrases that are not marked. Whilst acknowledging the risks of generalising on the basis of large‐scale social categories, an interpretation of these differences is suggested in relation to findings from previous research that suggest differences in the interactive style of different gender and social class groups. The paper discusses some implications of the analysis for the fields of language variation and change, and pragmatics.     

The Quality of Life in the 'Independence' Curriculum

The move towards community care as a humane alternative to institutional provision has brought complications in its wake. Integration, both into community living and into mainstream education, has generally entailed an elaborate process of the selection of those most easily assimilated. I am concerned to examine the opportunities available for those young people who are often rejected within the integration movement, yet who find themselves the recipients of training for independent living in the community. My hypothesis is that such a training can actually impoverish their quality of life.     

A brief moment of glory: the impact of the therapeutic community movement on the drug treatment systems in the UK

The introduction of concept-based therapeutic communities, based upon the model pioneered by Charles Dederich with the Synanon community in California, was a significant development in the evolution of drug treatment provision in the UK. For a short period in the 1970s, these communities enjoyed unparalleled influence in the development and direction of treatment approaches across the whole spectrum of services. This article considers the developments in psychiatry and social care that prepared the ground for that phenomenon. In addition, the article considers the subsequent demise in the importance of therapeutic communities to the direction of drug policy and the implications that this might have for future development of residential treatment services.     

The Broader System Begins With The Workplace

Most practitioners trained in family therapy are employed in host agencies which are not family therapy services. In these environments an ongoing challenge is to find constructive ways to manage the contraints of the employing agency. Central to meeting this challenge is the practitioner's ability to make sense of the host agency's local conditions. This paper offers a framework for developing an explicit awareness of these local conditions. It is the authors' view that an advanced level of ‘local knowledge’ allows for more creativity in managing the inevitably challenging experience of practice in human service agencies.     

Taking the longer view: Explaining Multicultural London English and Multicultural Paris French

The article explores the perplexing outcomes of comparative research projects in London and Paris on language change in multilingual areas of the cities populated by large numbers of recent immigrants with very diverse language backgrounds. In London, as in many other northern European cities, language contact on such a large scale has resulted in the emergence of a “multiethnolect”: a repertoire of innovative linguistic forms used by young people of all ethnicities, including monolingual non‐immigrant speakers. In Paris, however, there was no such repertoire. I propose four factors that are necessary for a multiethnolect to emerge and that explain why similar processes of population movement, immigration, and globalization have produced such different linguistic outcomes in London and Paris. These factors remind us that language evolution, like language use, is constrained not only by the social characteristics of individuals but also by the socio‐cultural historical contexts in which individuals live.     

Community Service and Political Identity Development in Adolescence

This article addresses the interconnection of political socialization and identity development. We begin with Erikson's work, which identified the development of political commitment in adolescence as a key aspect of identity formation. We then seek to shed light on the social processes through which youth become engaged in political activities and issues. We discuss the influences of family and peers as well as participation in community service and other civic activities. The development of social responsibility and agency, and an understanding of the complexity of social issues are considered as important facets of political commitment. Data from a case study of Black urban adolescents who participated in a year-long service learning program are used to illustrate our perspective. We conclude that social-historical context, instantiated in social relationships and actions, plays a pivotal role in the process and shape of political socialization and identity formation.