YOUTH, CRIME AND CONTROL - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module traces the social relations between youth, crime, and changing social, political and policy cultures. The ways young people have been responded to by a variety of controlling agencies, such as the police, prison system, and more social welfare orientated agencies such as social services has been a recurrent theme in criminology. This has encompassed critical questions with respect to; why young people receive more focus than adults? What kinds of young people are subject to greater levels of intervention? Whether this is just or necessary?  And in what ways have particular social control technologies affected the lives of young people? This module will place particular focus on specific digital capacities of control, how and why they have developed, and the significance these have for the practical outcomes of policy agendas such as ‘youth diversion’, ‘anti-social behaviour’ and ‘youth justice’, including whether these interventions work across international contexts from global and cultural capabilities perspectives. Overall, the module will encourage students to actively apply the linkages between historical, theoretical, and everyday policies of social control used against young people, and to demonstrate a critical knowledge of these debates and issues using a range of criminological and sociological approaches. Practice examples are offered throughout the module, to understand ways of working with young people in accordance with employability, as well as ways of utilising resources to support youth from a resourcefulness and resilience perspective.

Module provider

Sociology

Module Leader

MCCARTHY Daniel (Sociology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A

Module content

Introduction

The History of Youth Justice Part 1: From Reformation to Child Saving

The History of Youth Justice Part 2: Welfare and Punishment

Why do youth offend? Pathways in and out of offending

Victimisation and young people

Families and youth offending

Preventing Youth Crime and Early Intervention

Surveillance and social control beyond criminal justice

Comparative Youth Justice

The Future of Youth Justice

Assignment prep/summary

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

 

• A systematic understanding of the ways in which different theories have sought to understand constructions of youth and responses to youth crime.

• An advanced ability to make connections and distinctions between these different theories and apply original arguments to assess these.

• A critical understanding of the ways theories intersect with the politics of youth crime and justice the operations of these systems.

 

 

This will be assessed via two assignments. Thus the summative assessment for this module is:

 

Assignment 1 – class test (30%)

Assignment 2 – research paper (70%)

 

 

Formative assessment and feedback:

 

Feedback in class on regular student inputs

Written feedback on individual assignment for assessment one will shape the preparation of the second and cohort feedback from the overall findings of the assessment will be offered in class and on SurreyLearn to all to further support preparation for the final assessment.

Students will be given opportunities to discuss a brief plan of their research paper with the module convener anytime up which is optional, but encouraged.

Module aims

• To develop insight into the historical, contemporary foundations of youth justice
• To critically explore the implementation and outcome of youth justice policy
• To assess interpretations of youth justice policy and practice

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

Besides a lecture component of the teaching, the structure of the sessions will be group-based and interactive. Usually you will work in groups of approximately 3/4 persons. The sorts of activities which you will be involved will vary most weeks. Some will be conventional group discussions, debates, presentations, but I will also ask you to work through more problem-based case studies involving themes from the course. These will not be assessed, but will form a key part of your learning process during the course.

 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: SOC3057

Other information

The School of Sociology is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability – Many students that complete the module go onto work in the justice system, including many with young people in allied settings, including education. The module engages closely with many of the practical issues faced when working in organisations, and with young people specifically. This includes good practice examples in youth justice, including devising successful interventions and working relations with youth.

Digital Capabilities – We engage academically with the issue of digital capacities during the content of the module, including a critical assessment of how these technologies may provide barriers and opportunities for young people’s lives. We utilize classroom technologies, such as Padlet and Polleverywhere to help engage students in discussions.

Global and Cultural Capabilities – Criminology more broadly is often focused on Anglophone contexts which does not encapsulate the entirety of youth crime and justice issues. We look at examples from the Global South and ask questions about the transferability of Anglophone ideas to regions outside.

Sustainability – Much of what happens in youth justice is contested, with negative consequences for youth. Criminal justice responses are expensive and not always cost effective. Alternative means of supporting youth and intervention to support their lives requires students to have a depth awareness of these criminal justice alternatives, helping shape the future of a more sustainable, and hopefully downsized justice system.

Resourcefulness and Resilience – Students will have the chance to engage critically in developing best practice examples of working with youth to address their offending. The second assignment is designed to give students the chance to think about the intersections between policies and practice, where they are invited to write a critical policy review in reforming and improving responses to a particular agenda in youth justice (of their choice). These elements are orientated around skills needed in helping shape change, with important links with resourcefulness and resilience.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.