A Popular Criminology of Youth Justice

Youth crime and justice has always been a key area of study within criminology, but some aspects
have not been fully explored in relation young people, such as popular criminology. Previous work
looking at youth justice in media has focused on news, and reporting of stories of youth crimes, with
a focus on stereotyping and moral panics. However, cultural ideas about young people who commit
crimes are created, mediated, and perpetuated within popular media also. This chapter will explore
how representations of young people involved in crime have developed within film, and the ways in
which this has impacted upon and influenced ideas of youth crime within the public imagination,
contributing to policy and practice within youth justice, and what this means for youth justice in
future. In doing so, the call for a popular criminology of youth justice and new research is solidified.