Childhood and Crime

Authors: Dr Claire McDiarmid, Senior Lecturer in the Law School at the University of Strathclyde

ISBN: 9781845860127

Format: Paperback/230pp

Price: Now only £40.00 - save £10.00

Publication Month: July 2007

Children who commit serious crimes present a paradox. As children they belong to a group which is generally regarded as vulnerable and in need of protection. As criminals, on the other hand, they are to be condemned, punished and deterred. This unique text argues that it is possible to reconcile the competing and often polarized demands of justice and welfare so that the child's criminality and vulnerability are simultaneously accommodated.

Introduction
The Context of the Bulger Case and its Ripple Effect
Children and the Mental Element in Criminal Law
Recognition of the Child's Criminal Capacity in Law: Two Examples
The Treatment of Children in Scots Criminal Law Historically
The Modern Law
Welfare and the Children's Hearings System: "Justice" within Welfare
Concluding Thoughts

Reviews

"Claire McDiarmid's book provided this reviewer (a new-comer to the Scottish criminal justice system) with a valuable and clearly written exploration of this jurisdiction's response to children who commit crime. While this work does not have an explicitly comparative approach, it draws on examples from other jurisdictions, and explores concepts that apply to scholars of any juvenile justice process.
....McDiarmid's breadth of interdisciplinary research and the interweaving of key concepts enhance the doctrinal text, which itself is rigorous and valuable. This comprehensive, probing and accessible work will prove of great worth and interest to students and academics alike." The Edinburgh Law Review, May 2008

"This book is clearly grounded in a thorough review of the relevant case law; at the same time the style of this book is readily accessible and relevant to a wide range of social scientists....a well written, interesting and highly readable analysis of the contradictory ways we conceptualise and respond to children who commit serious crimes" - Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law 27/10/08

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