It's more than 10 years since respected youth work academic Mark K Smith drew our attention to the three negatives associated with the term "youths": thugs, users or victims. Thugs need to be constrained; users abuse substances or need services delivered to them; and victims require protection from themselves or others. Nevertheless, much of what has constituted youth policy over the past decade has continued to reinforce, rather than counter these negatives.
While I don't want to pick over the bones of youth policy - others have done that far more eloquently than me - it may be worth looking more closely at the thinking that has shaped it.
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