Youth justice innovation on the west coast: Examining community-based social justice organizations through a left realist lens
Article
Goddard, T, Myers, RR. (2013). Youth justice innovation on the west coast: Examining community-based social justice organizations through a left realist lens
. 14(1), 51-62.
Goddard, T, Myers, RR. (2013). Youth justice innovation on the west coast: Examining community-based social justice organizations through a left realist lens
. 14(1), 51-62.
This article uses a left realist lens to examine the philosophies and practices of three progressive organizations serving disadvantaged, 'at-risk,' or socially excluded youth-mostly of color-on the West Coast of the United States. Through face-to-face interviews with key organizational actors as well as qualitative content analysis of program materials, we highlight community-based organizations that, in line with some of the main tenets of left realism, take crime seriously, treat crime as a social and political phenomenon, focus on the economic roots of much serious violence, and value democratization of crime and social policy at the community level. While utilizing left realism as a way to begin organizing the diverse workings of these understudied organizations, we also discuss the promise and potential pitfalls that would likely arise if progressive criminologists were to work more closely with such groups.
