'The Trouble with Kids Today'

Youth and Crime in Post-War Britain
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-43395-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 218 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Revivals

Youth crime was constantly in the news during the early 1980s, fuelling widespread fears and anxieties about a spiraling crime wave. Throughout the preceding decade, youth crime was widely believed to have reached crisis proportions, with outbreaks of youth disorder prompting demands for urgent remedies and solutions—reflected in the establishment of short sharp shock detention centres, curfew orders, and increased youth custody. But were these fears justified? Did youth crime and deviance really threaten the structure of society? And did reforms to the juvenile justice system deter youth from crime?

John Munice answers these questions in ‘The Trouble with Kids Today’ (originally published in 1984) through a wide-ranging review of social science research on the ‘problem’ that emerged in post-war Britain. Such research concluded that not only had society overreacted to youth crime, but also that the ‘solutions’ may have been part of the problem. This is the first book to draw together the conclusions of youth studies from such diverse areas as sociology, criminology, social policy, cultural studies and media studies. The weight of this research pointed towards a reassessment of attitudes toward the young and a re-examination of the degree of supervision and control which their behaviour demanded.

The book also suggests ways in which this research could be responded to critically and developed—an essential process for seriously confronting the problems of unemployment, boredom, and political disaffection that faced the youth of the 1980s.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Muncie, John

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kriminalsoziologie
• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Kriminologie, Strafverfolgung
• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Jugendstrafrecht, Jugenstrafvollzugsrecht

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Media images of youth 2. Studies in the history and theory of youth 3. Youth and crime 4. Youth in revolt 5. The practice of youth control 1: regulation and restraint 6. The practice of youth control 2: correction and confinement Conclusion: youth in the 1980s

Über Autor(innen)

John Muncie is Emeritus Professor of Criminology, Department of Social Policy and Criminology, The Open University, UK. His research interests include critical criminology, comparative youth justice, children’s rights, globalisation, crime, harm and social policy. He was a founding member and Director of The Open University’s International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research (ICCCR) from 2003 to 2011.