Young People in Custody

Abstract

During the nineteenth century two new characters appeared on the social landscape — the adolescent and the juvenile delinquent. Adolescence came to denote a new phase in personal development which stood between childhood and adulthood. Young people were no longer seen as ‘little adults’, but rather as persons still in the process of personal development who were not, as yet, fully responsible for their actions. Closely associated with these new conceptions of childhood and adolescence was the formation of the modern family and the introduction of compulsory education. These two agencies took on increasing responsibility for both extending and deepening the processes of socialisation (Gillis, 1974; May, 1973).