ARTICLE Copyright  2006 The National Association for Youth Justice Published by SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi) www.sagepublications.com ISSN 1473-2254, Vol 6(3): 171–179 DOI: 10.1177/1473225406069491 Young People ‘At Risk’ of What? Challenging Risk-focused Early Intervention as Crime Prevention Stephen Case Correspondence: Dr Stephen Case, Centre for Criminal Justice and Criminology, Vivian Tower, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. Email: s.p.caseswan.ac.uk Abstract This article attempts to broker a compromise between critical criminological challenges to the populist (punitivist) and negative conceptions of young people ‘at risk’ of offending – which are used to justify (potentially deleterious) risk-based interventions (Goldson, 2005) – and the positivist risk-based models upon which these interventions are predicated. It is argued that all young people are, by definition, ‘at risk’ of problem outcomes due to their relative powerlessness in society; exemplified by the adult presumption/prescription of salient risks and the subsequent imposition of responses underpinned by these factors. However, the article concludes that, far from being rejected, the risk factor approach should be retained and utilized through a re-orientation towards risks identified through qualitative research with young people and a simultaneous emphasis upon factors which enable young people to thrive and develop. The pursuit of ‘causes’ and ‘predictors’ of youth offending is eschewed in favour of a re-conception of salient factors as ‘correlates’ and ‘indicators’ of potential behaviours – both ‘good’ and ‘bad’, which can then be utilized to supplement further qualitative research and, crucially, the explicit involvement of young people through consultation and participation processes shaping their futures. Keywords: correlates, early intervention, risk, young people Young People: Feckless Predators New Labour’s ‘youth policy’ may . . . ostensibly lay claim to safeguarding tomorrow’s future, but the reality is that it is much more likely to continue to misspend our youth. (Mizen, 2003: 473) The hegemonic perception of young people in the UK, as perpetuated by media representations of public opinion and government policy formation, is alleged by some social commentators to be that of a dangerous, anti-social, irrational, and irresponsible underclass, permanently ‘at risk’ of offending and other problem behaviours (Hough and Roberts, 2004; Muncie and Hughes, 2002). The perceived threat posed by young j:text 24-10-2006 p:3 c:0 at Loughborough University on February 16, 2016 yjj.sagepub.com Downloaded from