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Youth Transitioning from Juvenile Justice Settings Back into School: Leadership Perspectives

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Abstract

Young people in Australia comprise 8–21% of all persons arrested. Due to their age, incarcerated youth have a more complex set of circumstances than their adult counterparts, and are likely to have more stakeholders involved in their transition out of the juvenile justice system back into the community, specifically in the education sector. The chapter addresses the need for early planning, assessment, confidentiality, staff preparation, along with identifying and addressing student needs to effectively plan the transition from juvenile justice systems back to school. These needs are aligned to interventions within a research-based framework. There is a focus on relevant legislation and policy in the area of school transitions and their implications for this vulnerable population of young people. School leadership teams play an important role in this important transition, and as such, principals’ perspectives on student transitions from juvenile justice back to school are explored.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the participating school leaders of juvenile justice schools in New South Wales, Australia, for taking time to participate in interviews. They would also like to extend their gratitude to the NSW Department of Education, and NSW Department of Juvenile Justice, for funding and supporting this important study.

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Correspondence to Therese M. Cumming .

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Cumming, T.M., O’Neill, S., Strnadová, I. (2018). Youth Transitioning from Juvenile Justice Settings Back into School: Leadership Perspectives. In: Trimmer, K., Dixon, R., S. Findlay, Y. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Education Law for Schools. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77751-1_17

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