Staying out of trouble

Why do so many children in care get involved in the criminal justice system?   

'Children who have been in care account for 49% of the 11,672 under 21 year olds in contact with the criminal justice system.  Children aged 10 - 17 who had spent 12 months or more in care were more than twice as likely as all children that age to have been convicted or received a final warning or reprimand during that year.' 

Centre for Social Justice - Couldn't Care Less report

Some perspective

First, a sense of perspective.  These figures mean that roughly 9 out of 10 children go through the care system without getting into trouble. The perception that all young people in care are a walking crime waiting to happen is clearly false and damaging for the majority.  Still, there's an issue here.  Why is so much youth crime committed by a minority of children in care? 

Minor infringements

Children's home staff are obliged to ring the police even for minor infringements - swearing aggressively, a broken window or even staying out late. Children's rights lawyer Mitchell Woolf argues that 'children are being given a criminal record through being in care, because no parent would report their children in most of these circumstances.'

Mental health, learning disabilities and crime

Children who should be statemented for educational difficulties (such as Aspergers or Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder) may be missed by the system - people with these conditions who don't get the support they need are more likely to end up in prison. There's also a strong link between mental health problems and involvement in crime.

37% of 5 to 17 year olds in care were judged to have 'conduct disorders' by a 2002 survey. 12% had emotional disorders and 7% were diagnosed with hyperkinetic disorders. That's far more than for the general population and is probably linked to pre-care experiences of abuse and neglect.  And if a child is continually moved around in care because of their 'difficult' behaviour, it increases their insecurity and lack of self-worth, which may reinforce the path to crime.

Creating boundaries 

Children may also go into the care system because they are beyond the control of parents who have been unable to create proper boundaries. Sometimes the care system is no better at providing positive role models.

Oliver Ashton, now in his 30s, says 'from the age of 13 to about 19, I was totally off track.  My criminal activity was always there, but it really took off when I was in care.  That's when I went out doing cars, doing houses.'  Ashton turned his life around and is now a trainer for an organisation called Goals UK. Working with people in care and in the prison system he teaches young people how to make positive choices and move away from crime.