Open Access strongUnderstandingstrong Young Offenders Developmental.pdfVIP

The Open Criminology Journal, 2011, 4, (Suppl 1-M1) 13-22 13 Open Access Understanding Young Offenders: Developmental Criminology Sharon Casey* School of Psychology, Deakin University, Australia Abstract: The role of criminological theory should be to inform practice. Program developers should start with a recognized theory about the causes of crime and then design interventions that target factors identified in that theory. Unfortunately, the link between theory and practice is not always apparent. In this paper, a number of prominent developmental theories of crime are considered. These theories are significant in that they provide a strong basis for understanding young offending, and how both the criminal justice system and service providers should approach the task of working constructively with those who appear before the court. This is followed by a review of programs that have been designed to address the risk factors identified in these developmental theories. Keywords: Juvenile offending, developmental theories, treatment. INTRODUCTION A useful starting point here is to consider the “theories” that Latessa, Cullen and Gendreau (2002, p.44) found were In simplistic terms, the role of criminological theory is to either implicit in