Bridging the Gap: Identifying the Needs of Young Adults in Transition from Youth to Adult Justice Systems

This thesis explores the experiences of young persons involved in the criminal justice system as they reach adulthood and navigate custodial transitions from youth to adult justice services, often referred to as “cliff edges”. Young adulthood, the period of life from 18 to 25 years, is a distinct life stage during which development and maturation continue. Central to this thesis is a medico-legal disconnect. Upon reaching the age of majority, the system under which an individual is governed changes overnight, but their maturity does not. This thesis identifies the needs of this distinct cohort in criminal justice settings. Despite the need for research and reform in the area being highlighted in the Irish Penal Reform Trust’s Turnaround Youth report 2015 and the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027, there is still a gap in the academic literature, a gap which this research fills. This study triangulates data, employing a mixed methods approach with a strong ontologically-oriented phenomenological design, maximising its potential to build a complete picture of the research topic. Rooted in Article 12 of the UNCRC and the Lundy Model of Participation, this thesis adopts a rights-based participatory approach, enshrining YPs’ voices and involving them in knowledge generation. This in-depth study consists of fieldwork in four institutions in a single jurisdiction, including 63 semi-structured interviews with young people aged 16 to 25 years, complemented by survey questionnaires (n = 39). With the YPs’ voices at the heart of this study, it gives us a unique insight into their experiences. They are experts in their own lives and agents for change rather than a “problematic” cohort of the criminal justice system. This study enriches the literature on young adulthood, illuminating the impact of ‘exiting’ provisions designed for children into a system designed for adults. The findings evidence that custodial transitions can exacerbate the dual liminality that young adults experience, between childhood and adulthood as well as youth and adult justice provisions. Young adults are often not adequately developed to deal with an adult system and services and may benefit from the provisions offered to children. Transitions can become opportunities to enhance the probability of individuals ‘ageing out’ of criminal involvement, slowing down the ‘revolving door’ of the criminal justice system from turning.