Governance Through Diversion in Neoliberal Times and the Possibilities for Transformative Social Justice

Over the last decade, the dramatic increase in the number of young people diverted from formal processing through the youth justice system in England and Wales, and the equally sharp drop in the rate of youth custody suggest that the neoliberal formula for the penal governance of young people who offend has been undergoing significant reshaping. This article draws on research which interrogates the changes that are currently taking place, particularly the proliferation of “out of court” community-based measures of diversion and offense resolution, to develop a more fine-tuned conceptualization of the complexities of neoliberal youth penality. We base our findings principally on England and Wales, although it is likely that our analysis is applicable in other settings. With the extensive reduction in the capacity of the state to exert direct measures of institutional and community-based coercion, we seek to identify other, less overt processes that also aspire to maintain order and reproduce social relations favorable to the neoliberal project. In lieu of ending on a purely pessimistic note, we conclude with a brief outline of the potential for alternative, progressive strategies that seek to challenge rather than simply modify or incorporate previous modes of regulation and control.