- 200 years
- Study
- International
- Business and employers
- Research
- About us
On the 6th July, Professor Hannah Smithson and Anna-Christina Jones presented a paper entitled “Participatory youth practice: Championing the voice of the child” at the British Society of Criminology (BSC) conference, held a t Sheffield Hallam University.
Although young people have established legal rights to express their opinions (UNCRC, 2008) and contribute to an effective response to their own behaviour (UNCRC, 2007), in practice youth justice processes are often enforced, adult-led, prescribed, and mandatory, and this is true even when attempts are made to listen to young people’s voices. By incorporating academic literature and participatory approaches to research, GMYJUP’s pioneering Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) has been developing services optimised for user-engagement through a youth-led research project designed to develop a new Participatory Youth Practice (PYP) framework of youth justice practice in Greater Manchester.
The Participatory Youth Practice framework contributes to the academic discourse by developing discussion of desistance and participation in the context of youth justice. Once finalised, the framework will also contribute to practice, developing youth-led guiding principles for youth justice practice, supported by practical session guides.
Our innovative approach to research and pioneering application of participatory methods in a youth justice setting were positively received by delegates. GMYJUP are now looking forward to being able to launch the final framework of youth justice practice in the autumn.
Friday, 14th July 2017