Enfranchising the Youth

ABSTRACT

Democratic theorists tend to assume, without a great deal of argument, that age-based discrimination in access to the franchise is justified. In this paper, I challenge the orthodoxy. I argue that all major, plausible accounts of the justification of democracy converge upon a requirement to enfranchise a substantial proportion of the child population. Along the way, I consider and respond to several challenges that have been raised to child enfranchisement.     

Introduction to special issue: contradictory interests of offspring and parents, 1500–2000

Conflicts between parents and offspring at home are not a popular issue, at least not in the field of the history of the family. Nevertheless do they occur and it might be rewarding to study these phenomena, although historical sources are scarce. They can be an expression of more general social tensions and they might provoke social changes. This Special Issue presents four contributions in which the central focus is about tensions between parents and grown-up offspring that is still at home. Three topics will be dealt with: marriage, earnings of children working elsewhere, and the threat of leaving home. Factors that seem to affect the balance of interests between parents and offspring include parental power, family needs, public authority and interests taken by children in the outside world.     

‘Unhomely moments’: Civilising domestic worlds in colonial Australia

This article explores the multiple connections between the colonisation of Australia in the nineteenth century and the formation of domestic worlds as the site for ‘civilising’ children. The affective bonds of family were often regarded as an indispensable element in the nurture and training of children, but where the bonds of ‘natural affection’ seemed to pose an obstacle to the civilising project, they were ruthlessly severed.     

Justice or Welfare? Nordic Women's Shelters and Children's Rights Organizations on Children Exposed to Violence

Efforts to promote the protection of, and support to, abused women have opened up new understandings concerning children who see, hear, or in other ways are exposed to men's violence against women and its consequences. On the basis of a redefinition of children exposed to violence into children subjected to violence, some important policy changes have recently been made in the Nordic countries as regards children's status as crime victims. To enable a better understanding of the context of such changes in policy, this article explores the extent to which Nordic women's shelter/crisis centre organizations and children's rights organizations draw upon a justice discourse in relation to the issue of children exposed to violence. The analysis is based upon a study of 10 organizations working at a national level in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.     

Iaals' Honoring Families Initiative: Courts and Communities Helping Families in Transition Arising from Separation or Divorce

• It is time for a national dialogue about the feasibility of creating out‐of‐court alternatives for separating and divorcing families.
• Research indicates that separating parents who provide their children with consistency, emotional support, and low conflict help children successfully adapt in the transition process.

     

The Swansea Bureau: A model of diversion from the Youth Justice System

The Swansea Bureau is an innovative initiative designed to divert young people out of the formal processes of the Youth Justice System. The Swansea Bureau extends beyond simple diversion grounded in minimal or non-intervention and into tackling the underlying causes of youth crime through mechanisms that normalise youth offending and promote prosocial behaviour, children's rights, youth participation and the engagement of both parents/carers and the local community. Inter-agency working is pursued in a political, strategic and operational context of viewing young people as ‘children first, offenders second’. This article discusses the development of the Bureau and explores how this child-orientated model is beginning to yield positive results in terms of decreases in first time entrants into the Youth Justice System and reductions in reconviction. The Bureau process has also elicited widespread positive qualitative feedback from key stakeholders regarding its engagement with Welsh national policy, parents/carers and the children's rights agenda.     

新发展主义视野下的自闭症儿童社会救助政策研究

发展型社会政策因为主张社会开支的投资取向,在国际社会政策理论与实践领域受到高度重视。但它在社会救助过程中也难以独当一面,需要与传统消费主义原则结合构成新发展主义的政策模式。本文分析新发展主义社会救助原则对自闭症儿童社会救助的适宜性,进而在考察我国自闭症儿童社会救助政策发展的基础上,剖析其中蕴含的发展主义政策取向及其存在的问题,对自闭症儿童社会救助政策发展进行整体性思考。     

关于北京市流浪儿童救助保护的行动研究

流浪儿童教育的目标应该是素质教育而不是文化课教育,未保中心的教育职能应该定位为受助儿童教育的组织者而不是实施者。对流浪儿童的教育要学校教育和机构内教育并重,对流浪儿童进行心理辅导和行为矫正是必要的,但需要将这些服务延伸到其家庭、社区和学校。要根据流浪儿童的特点灵活地开展工作,个案工作要避免急功近利,小组工作是完全必要和可行的,而心理评估的重点应该是长期滞留的儿童。