The conclusion firstly reviews the four main lines of enquiry that have been undertaken by the book. It then highlights the manner in which the state has become enmeshed in the activity of governing children and young people. This increased governmentalisation of the state, in the context of the development of the Irish juvenile justice system, has gained significant momentum in the twenty-first century with the ‘rationalisation and restructuring’ of services and the establishment of the Irish Youth Justice Service and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. In contrast with the state of affairs that existed from the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century in Ireland, the state has assumed a central role in governing children and young people within the juvenile justice system. This can be seen in terms of its increased role in the areas of inspection, advocacy, diversion, detention, care and protection.