Description

Involving the Community in Youth Justice: “Naming and Shaming” and the Role of Local Citizen Courts in Britain and in the Former GDR

Since the early 2000s, local authorities and police in Britain have had the right to “name and shame” children and young people as young as 10 years of age who have received an antisocial behavior order. This practice has attracted critique from the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child and the European Human Rights Commissioner. Britain is not the first country to loosen identity protection for delinquent juveniles. The former German Democratic Republic also employed shaming tactics, both as a means of blaming and stigmatizing unfavorable youth cultures for reintegration purposes. Further comparison with the GDR’s youth justice system shows several other parallels that result from a similar emphasis on restorative justice and the engagement of citizens in lay courts at the community level.

naming and shaming, restorative youth justice, Britain, German Democratic Republic, citizen court, lay offender panel, dispute commission, antisocial behavior order

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 38, No. 4 (2011): 91-105