Can the 'geometry of crime' develop understandings of children's youth justice journey making?

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Many children entering the Youth Justice System (YJS) have already experienced significant socio-economic disadvantage and multiple complex (unmet) needs/problems stemming from, for example, poverty, neglect, abuse, discrimination and victimisation (Case 2021). These disadvantages are compounded by YJS contact as they can present barriers to access (e.g. physical, economic) and engagement with systemic support mechanisms (Brooks-Wilson 2019), whilst lateness and absence from mandatory meetings can in punishment (YJB 2019a). However, the multiple complex needs (MCNS) of children in the YJS (e.g. mental health issues) can make additional journeys, visits and service access more necessary, further compounding access and engagement problems. Moreover, children with MCNS entering the YJS can differ in the extent of their local knowledge garnered from the regularity/necessity of their journeys, for example, if they are in care and requiring multiple care placements-encouraging comprehensive local knowledge, compared to those living in poverty (potentially visiting fewer destinations/having limited transport access-generating limited local knowledge). Whilst the prevalence of socially-disadvantaged children with MCNs in the YJS is well-documented, the local navigational and service access implications of their attendant personal and social circumstances are under-researched.The 'Geometry of Crime': Enhancing understandings of youth justice journeys, contemporary youth justice practice is highly dispersed with multi-agency, single-sited teams (YOTS) releasing seconded staff back to parent organisations, producing compulsory requirements for children to visit multiple practice settings (YJB 2019b). Furthermore, intensive community sentences require up to 25 hours weekly contact time and attendance at multiple sites. Consequently, children can have multiple destination points along their youth justice journey (e.g. travelling to a group minibus collection point for community reparation), often requiring a quality of habitual 'mental maps' and complicated local knowledge (Brooks-Wilson 2020a, b) Carely acknowledged and often (wrongly) assumed in assessments, judgements of children's navigational competency and access support provision (YJB 2019a).The 'Geometry of Crime' (GOC) provides a theoretical framework to unearth new knowledge regarding children's navigation of their journeys through and access to youth justice support in the broader their habitual navigation of everyday life (Reid et al 2014). The GOC suggests that:familiarity with journeys, destinations, local areas, landmarks boundaries (e.g. impassable railway lines) and intersections (e.g. road junctions, bus stations) produces 'mental maps' for successful locality-setting navigation (Andresen 2020); life changing events (e.g. offending) catalyse new, unfamiliar journeys that can be complex, stressful and require more skills to navigate (Schmitt et al 2015), so optimal service delivery is achieved when service access, targeting and engagement are considered together. Research questions: 1. How can the GOC improve understandings of how children navigate their youth justice journeys? 2. How can policy/practice be refined through new knowledge on how children navigate the YJS? 3. How can child-centric methodologies be utilised to examine the GOC and inform collaborative working with children in the YJS?