Discord and Ambiguity Within Youth Crime and Justice Debates

Abstract

This dissertation traces debates about youth crime and justice in Canada. On a substantive level, I ask how the social problem of youth crime and justice is constructed, focusing specifically on debates over the culpability of young offenders. I also examine debates over the degree and severity of youth crime and connect the divergent positions on this question to how young offenders are conceptualized. Related to these debates, I examine the search for solutions to youth crime. I argue that positions regarding how to address youth crime are rendered ambiguous given the creation of a hybridized youth justice context which combines various competing goals. On a theoretical level, I explore the relationship between how formulations of "deviant identities" (in this case "young offenders") are related to other areas of advocacy over a social problem. I explore the dynamics of a social problem debate which persists without resolution over an extended period of time. I also address the ways in which social context impacts upon claims made over a social problem.