Living on the Edge: Young Offenders and Emotive Offending

This research article aims to determine the value of experiential and emotive offending by enquiring, to what extent alternative ways of thinking about risk can serve as a more useful framework for understanding risk-taking behaviour. It is suggested that offending is better understood as pleasurable and positive experience; adding an additional dimension to current criminological and sociological debates by uncovering aspects of risk which individuals deliberately engage with in an attempt to alter the fabric of their everyday. The study’s overall contribution to knowledge proposes a more comprehensive and realistic approach for the application of research-based strategies and the future direction of research agendas.