‘They Really Should Start Listening to You’: The Benefits and Challenges of Co-Producing a Participatory Framework of Youth Justice Practice

Abstract

This article presents the findings from a pioneering project between a university and 10 regional youth justice services. The project resulted in the co-production, with young people, of a framework of principles termed ‘Participatory Youth Practice’ (PYP). The benefits and challenges of producing PYP are discussed. We argue that the framework – grounded in Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and ‘child first, offender second’ principles – is a formative step in the process of creating a youth justice system that respects and acknowledges children and young people’s rights and enables them to meaningfully participate in decision-making processes.