This episode of Radio 4's Thinking Allowed series consists of two segments. In the first Laurie Taylor is joined by Rob Hornsby who as a trainee sociologist got an insight into the current workings of the Youth Justice System when he worked as an Appropriate Adult at a police station, supporting young offenders following their initial arrest.
Hornsby explains how his practical experience of the processes involved has helped illuminate both the successes and failures of the multi-agency approach. The second segment focuses on ageing and that the over-eighties comprise the fastest rising segment of the population. They are expected to treble their numbers in the next twenty five years.
Laurie Taylor explores with Mike Hepworth, Reader in Sociology at the University of Aberdeen and Rodney Bickerstaffe President of National Pensioners Convention, the ways in which moral values have been attributed to evidence of ageing in the body throughout history and how they continue to influence contemporary attitudes.