No More Excuses: A New Approach to Tackling Youth Crime in England and Wales; a Summary

In the autumn of 1997 the British Home Office issued three consultation papers inviting those concerned to give their views in response to proposals for a radical reform of the youth justice system in England and Wales. The proposals took on a more definitive nature with the publication in November 1997 of a White Paper entitled No More Excuses: A New Approach to Tackling Youth Crime in England and Wales . No more excuses are to be made, then, either for the ineffectiveness of the youth justice system or for the young offenders who end up in the system. In his preface, the Home Secretary Jack Straw even refers to the ‘excuse culture’ that has grown in the youth justice system: the White Paper draws a line under this. The editors of theEuropean Journal on Criminal Policy and Research would like to encourage the debate on the British proposals concerning youth crime. In respect of this, an extended summary is published in this issue. In the next issue comments on these proposals will be published. The summary was made by Alfred Hakkert of the Dutch Ministry of Justice. 1