Law & Social Work

This assignment is based upon the author’s practice learning opportunity. The assignment will cogitate and explore how legislation impacts upon service users and will also reflect upon how legislation promotes, influences, and in some cases be detrimental in the provision of anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice. The author has chosen to concentrate their study upon the key legislation of the Children Act 1989 (including amendments 2004) and Crime and Disorder Act 1998, that governs all aspects of dealing with children and young people who have become involved in crime and anti-social behaviour. During the assignment, the author will challenge concepts, highlight dilemmas in practice, and also identify any conflictions of legislation.

Difficulties concerning the law and children and young people lies with the definitions of what ‘a child’ is differ greatly socially, biologically and also internationally, although the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child regards children as all those under the age of eighteen (Johns, 2003). A definition of ‘a child’ maybe that of dependency or vulnerability from one perspective but the law concerned with children has a firmly rooted definition of chronological age (Johns, 2003). The author recognises from practice that the teenage years of adolescence are confusing for young people in the sense that there are many age restrictions from smoking, the consumption of alcohol, driving, employment and consent of sexual activity. However, these laws positively impact upon them, protecting their vulnerability whilst seeking to not be too oppressive (Johns, 2003). Further to this, another confusing element of law is within criminal law the term ‘young person’ refers to offenders between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. This is coupled with yet more confusion in that the Children Act 1989 recognises children as people under sixteen in relation to ‘private’ proceedings, yet ‘public’ law social services’...