Advancing a case for critical realism in forensic mental health scholarship and practice with youth convicted of sexual offences

Purpose Critical realism presents a philosophical and paradigm shift in forensic mental health scholarship and practice with youth convicted of sexual offences, which addresses current deficits in the risk management approach. Through universalism and essentialism, the dominant risk management approach classifies diverse youth by criminal behaviour and risk through predictive algorithms with a failure to account for history and oppression. In contrast, critical realism addresses identity, environment and adolescent development in practice with youth convicted of sexual offences while providing explanatory depth and a focus on social justice. The purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative perspective through critical realism and address deficits in the risk management approach with youth convicted of sexual offences. Design/methodology/approach From a critical realism perspective, this paper critiques the applicability of the risk management approach with youth convicted of sexual offences by addressing tensions in the existing scholarship and practice. This paper provides clinical examples and practical application of critical realism to ground the conceptual perspective. Findings The authors argue that critical realism provides a critical alternative to tensions in the existing scholarship and practice with youth convicted of sexual offences through the addition of context, explanatory depth and a focus on social justice. Practical implications Intersectionality and developmental life course theoretical perspectives offer nuanced contextual approaches to incorporate complexity and diversity into practice with YCSOs. Explanatory depth through critical realism urges scholars to go beyond empiricism to the deeper structures and explanations for a phenomenon. A focus on social justice includes analysis of history, power and oppression in scholarship and practice with youth convicted of sexual offences. Quantitative criticalism is an example of an emerging theory that informs methods which emphasize social justice. Practice recommendations include moving beyond conceptualizing culture as a responsivity factor alone to the incorporation of diverse knowledges and ways of being. Desistance scholarship and practice approaches that include narrative redemptive scripts are examples of approaches consistent with critical realism that focus on strengths and intersectionality theory. Originality/value Critical realism is an under-utilized paradigm within forensic mental health, which is heavily focused on the dominance of the risk management approach. In scholarship and practice with youth convicted of sexual offences, a critical realism perspective adds context, explanatory depth, and a focus on social justice.