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Behaviour management or institutionalised repression? Children’s experiences of physical restraint in custody
Author(s) -
Shenton Felicity,
Smith Roger
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/chso.12410
Subject(s) - child custody , psychology , criminology , control (management) , sociology , social psychology , management , economics
This article reports on a study of children's experiences of being physically restrained by staff in a range of custodial settings. The research was carried out in collaboration with a team of young researchers, and generated rich and insightful accounts of children's experiences of legitimised violence in the form of ‘restraint’. These lead us to reflect on whether this is a normal and justifiable feature of custody, or as oppressive and unacceptable to the extent that it represents a form of brutalisation, and an unnecessary, unjustifiable and repressive form of control, where the rights of children are routinely transgressed.