New Publication: The Gendered Nature of Community- and Family-Level Adversity: Perspectives from Justice-Involved Youth in Northern Ireland

Dr Orlaith Rice (REPPP, Stable Lives Safer Streets Hub) and Dr Colm Walsh (Queen’s University Belfast) have written a new article published open access in Criminal Justice and Behavior: The Gendered Nature of Community- and Family-Level Adversity: Perspectives from Justice-Involved Youth in Northern Ireland. 

Focusing on justice-involved young people in Northern Ireland, the article examines how gender shapes their experiences of community and family deprivation and instability. The article explores how journeys into the youth justice system differed by gender. While some criminogenic risk factors are common across all young people, this research finds that family and community stressors have differing impacts on girls versus boys. These insights underscore the need for early, gender-responsive youth offending interventions that meaningfully address relational safety and community marginalisation. 

Dr Rice and Dr Walsh are members of the Stable Lives Safer Streets Hub, funded by the Higher Education Authority.

The article can be found here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00938548261456567