Concepts shaping juvenile justice

As with most fields of human endeavour, the area of juvenile justice is characterised by many different types of programs, different 'discourses' or ways in which issues are put into language and practice, and different interest groups (from professionals through to young people themselves). This article explores some of the concepts that influence how people in the field think about the issues, and how best to respond to these issues. In doing this, the article demonstrates how concept-mapping offers one avenue by which to describe the categories juvenile justice activities and broad trends. As such, it provides a scoping exercise that may be useful for future sustained analysis and critique.