Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Abstract: Early use of drugs such as tobacco and alcohol is associated with later drug misuse and the age of initiation into drug use is falling in the UK and elsewhere. Arguably educational interventions must start in the primary school in order to maximize any preventive impact yet such education is underdeveloped and poorly researched. This article reviews the (mainly US) literature on the effectiveness of school-based educational interventions targeted at children below 11 years of age with the objective of preventing illicit drug use. Such evaluations are rare partly because they require a long timescale before impacts become measurable. The major (but still small-scale) British study to date suggested that a broad-based, life-skills programme could help prevent drug use. Other British studies have demonstrated the feasibility of implementing drug education in the primary school and some have recorded improvements in variables thought to relate to later drug use/problems. Outside the UK, studies of two popular...

Abstract: This article explores the continued importance of teaching a diverse curriculum at a time when issues of racial and ethnic equality and diversity have been increasingly sidelined in the political d...

Abstract: In opposition the Labour Party flagged youth justice as the likely core of their criminal justice efforts should they be elected to government. The first 15 months of the Labour Government were a frenzy of activity in this area culminating in the passage of the UK Crime and Disorder Act. The Act represents the most radical overhaul of youth justice since the Second World War. This paper considers New Labour youth justice policy and examines its origins and the key influences on its development.