Devolution and youth justice in Wales

This article discusses youth justice services in Wales in the context both of devolution and the wider social policy agenda of successive Welsh Assembly Governments. It sets out the operating arrangements and outcomes achieved by Youth Offending Teams in Wales, before arguing that a specific approach has been developed to policy and practice in this field in the post-devolution period. The article traces the main features of this approach, locating it in the wider contexts of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the development of broader children’s policy in Wales. The discussion ends with an account of the most recent developments in Welsh youth justice, suggesting that it provides ample points of interest for those concerned both with the development of devolution in general, and services for children and young people in trouble with the law, in particular.