"Risk, Uncertainty and Public Protection: Assessment of Young People Who Offend"

The intense media and political scrutiny that has long been associated with decisions made by social workers about child protection is now increasingly being seen in the criminal justice arena with regard to assessment of offenders who may present a risk of serious harm to other people. However, there has so far been little academic consideration of the decisions made by youth justice workers concerning young people who may pose a risk to others. 

This paper presents analysis of data collected from youth offending teams relating to such assessments. It argues that, as in the child protection field, progress in collecting relevant information for assessments has not been matched by improvements in analysis and that practitioners may not be coping very well with the challenge of undertaking complex assessments.