Analysis: Youth Justice - An American approach to antisocialbehaviour

The Red Hook Youth Court is a peer-led tribunal, part of an innovative community justice centre based in a run-down district of New York.

It has attracted the interest of government ministers in Britain for its radical approach to antisocial behaviour or, as it is known in the US, quality of life crime.

The UK's first community justice centre, developed in co-operation with Red Hook Community Justice Center, will open in Liverpool at the end of this year (YPN, 7-13 July, p2).

Tale of two cities

There are obvious similarities between Red Hook and Liverpool. Both are once-thriving ports that have turned inwards during a long era of decline. Red Hook's position at the end of a peninsula on the Hudson River allowed it to thrive as a port, but the docks have closed and now water blocks the community in on three sides. To the north, a major road cuts across the neighbourhood, and the lack of public transport to anywhere that might offer employment seals Red Hook's isolation. It is an area blighted by drug use, a dangerous place to grow up.