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Disabling and Criminalising systems? Understanding the experiences and challenges facing incarcerated, neurodivergent children in the education and youth justice systems in England

Day

Authors

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Abstract

Children defined as ‘neurodivergent’ are over-represented in the English and Welsh criminal justice system, and face a number of challenges as they navigate their way through the education and youth justice systems. This paper will empirically examine this neglected area of criminal justice involvement in young lives, and involves an interpretivist investigation of neurodivergent children's experiences of the education and youth justice systems, involving semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 19 children in England who were either in custody or had recently been released from custody. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis.

The research findings suggest that both the education and youth justice systems in England and Wales are disabling and criminalising through processes that, often unintentionally; label, stigmatise, isolate, neglect and harm neurodivergent children. Consideration will turn, in the concluding section of the paper, to what a ‘child first’ education and youth justice system would look like for neurodivergent children.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 1, 2022
Online Publication Date Jul 4, 2022
Publication Date 2022-12
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Forensic Science International
Print ISSN 0379-0738
Electronic ISSN 0379-0738
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 3
Article Number 100102
Keywords youth justice system; children; neurodiverse; neurodivergent; criminal justice system; youth offender; education