This is a shelf course. A shelf course comprises a number of modules related to this broad area of study. Each module is a separate semester of study in this area and is offered in rotation. You can study TWO modules but you cannot study the same module twice.

Module: "Young people, risk and harm" (Summer, 2011)
This elective provides an introduction to youth studies and youth justice focused on the issues of risk and harm to encourage the development of youth work practice skills and the development of policy analysis skills and knowledge. Major areas of knowledge and theory are developed around the concept of youth, youth justice, risk and harm, and the complex needs of young people in relation to income security and poverty, housing,education, health/mental health, criminal and civil law, culture and identity, gender and sexuality, and therapeutic work.

Module: Juvenile Justice"
The course provides a broad overview of the functioning of the juvenile justice system and its relationship to juvenile offending. There is a specific emphasis on NSW in terms of understanding the operation of a particular system, however reference is frequently made to the wider Australian and international context. The course begins by analysing the historical development of both a system of juvenile justice and a system of ideas about juvenile delinquency as distinct entities separable from broader notions of criminality and criminal justice. The development of a juvenile justice system has been paralleled by changing interpretations and explanations of juvenile behaviour. The course provides an introduction to this history before analysing the contemporary nature of juvenile crime and the juvenile justice system in NSW. Specific issues in relation to policing, community-based corrections and detention centres will be discussed.