The voice of young people who offend

This study investigated young people's experiences of offending and its contexts\nthrough the accounts of young people who have offended. The study questioned\nwhat young people say about their experiences of offending, and also how they say\nthis. Seven males between the ages of 18 -25 years who had a history of offending\nbehaviour were interviewed. The interviews were analysed using Interpretative\nPhenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (PDA) to\nattend to both parts of the research aim. The IPA analysis resulted in five themes\nbeing generated by the researcher. These included the experience of offending as a\nchildish game for parental attention, and also as a business enterprise. The\nexperiences of anger, fear and strength to survive in a hostile and competitive\nenvironment were also generated from the accounts. Experiences of exclusion and\nfeeling unloved were also conceptualised as an overriding theme throughout the\naccounts. Lastly, a cyclical experience of being 'stuck' in the offending position was\npresented through the experiences of guilt and compliance, the need for resources\nand a habitual propensity to anger. PDA was then used to consider the 'stuck'\ntheme through a wider contextual analysis. The discourses of 'guilt', 'class' and\n'dangerousness' as utilised within the young offenders accounts were considered to\nconstruct and contribute towards their experiences of the 'stuck' position.