Six of one and half a dozen of the other: child victims and restorative justice

This thesis examines how three youth offending teams in the south of England accommodate young victims of crime in their delivery of restorative justice. By exploring, through interviews, observations and examination of case files, how youth offending team and youth offender panel practitioners deliver restorative justice, the thesis concludes that young victims are often alienated from restorative processes which tend to prioritise the welfare needs of young offenders. Young victims are regarded as difficult to include due to their presumed culpability and work with them is perceived to be a conflict of interests in services where the dominant ideology is for practitioners to prioritise the welfare needs of young offenders. Adopting a blend of methods, the study moves from grounded theory to case study methodology in its approach to data analysis. Commencing with grounded theory for analysis of interviews of practitioners in the first youth offending team, the methodological approach is repositioned within a case study methodology to enable the inclusion of the first setting as a case. Using theory emerging inductively from the first setting, data examination continues in the other two youth offending teams, independently testing the first developed theory in the other two settings, resulting in minor variations of the original theory. Cross-case analysis then produces a final theory which forms the basis for a discussion of pertinent findings in the context of wider academic debate, research and contemporary public policy. The thesis concludes that restorative justice processes in these settings are insensible to child victims of crime. Whilst acknowledging the limitations in terms of generalisability to the wider population, the thesis makes recommendations on how restorative justice can be restored, and how the involvement of young victims can be re-established, reinforced and realised. Recommendations include guidance on where responsibility may lie for implementing recommendations at strategic, managerial and practitioner levels.