Becoming criminal: the cultural politics of risk

At the same time as youth crime in the UK is falling, there has been an increase in the numbers of young people in custody together with an explosion of social policy initiatives aimed at young people deemed to be ‘at risk’ of becoming criminal and focused upon the prevention of future offending and inclusion in mainstream society. This paper explores the ideology of preventative programmes with at‐risk youth built upon a ‘taken‐for‐granted’ notion of inclusion. It is argued that attempts to build such policies on the identification of risk factors associated with future offending have the consequences of stigmatizing already marginalized groups and of imposing mechanisms of governmentality upon these groups. It is further argued that genuine policies of ‘inclusion’ must engage with young people based upon democratic principles of participation and commitment to them as citizens.