Youth Offending: Risk Factors, Public Service Impact, and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of youth offending in England and Wales, exploring its causes, impact on public services, and potential solutions. The report begins with a critical analysis of the statement "England and Wales is experiencing a 'school to prison line' for its young people", discussing the increasing severity of youth offenses and the role of the Youth Justice System (YJS). It then delves into the risk factors contributing to youth offending, including lack of education, social learning, behavioral patterns, parenting styles, and economic factors. The report also examines the impact of youth offending on public services, such as healthcare, policing, and rehabilitation centers, and the financial implications. The conclusion emphasizes the need to address the root causes of youth crime, improve legal frameworks, and strengthen the roles of parents and public service providers to protect young generations from severe offenses.

Youth Offending

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................................1
Critical analysis of statement ......................................................................................................1
Risk factors contributing youth offending ..................................................................................3
Impact of youth offending on public services .............................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Youth crime or juvenile offending is defined as the involvement of youth or young
children in illegal activities or behaviours. The issue has been rising rapidly in England and
Wales and imposes serious implications on society and public services. Minors or youth are not
considered as completely mature or developed and their behaviour is influenced greatly by
several factors (Goldson and Muncie, 2015). Thus legal systems have specific procedures to deal
with juveniles such as rehabilitation centres and juvenile detention courts.
Apart from the convictions the financial consequences of involving in youth offending
are also serious. Thus parents, education system, society and public service providers also faces
challenges in securing the future of children. The participation in offences at young age can have
serious long lasting consequences for the children (Wadsworth and Hammond, 2019). The report
will discuss the various factors which are resulting in continuous increment in youth offending. It
will also provide a critical evaluation of the impact of increasing youth crime on various public
services.
DISCUSSION
Critical analysis of statement
“England and Wales is experiencing a 'school to prison line' for its young people”. The
statement demonstrate the increasing extent and severity of youth offences in major parts of UK.
In England and Wales 10 years of age is considered as minimum for criminal responsibility.
However there has been continuous growth in shift from minor or young remand detainees to
sentenced prisoners. The children or young people who are involved in crime activities are major
concern for the parents as well as probation officers. The detention from schools is also assumed
to be major cause for the increasing youth crime (Collins and Haudenhuyse, 2015). The
involvement of youth in criminal activities creates family tensions, financial burden in
convictions and adverse impact on their quality of life. In England increasing participation of
school going children and youth is observed in various crimes such as theft, vandalism, alcohol
and drug offences, assault, disorderly conduct, gun and knife based violence or killing and traffic
violations. Thus severity of youth crime is very broad and can taken even severe form if not
controlled or monitored.
According to youth justice statistics number of minors in remand has increased by 19%
between year 2017 and 2018. and around 40.9% of children were reoffended (Youth Justice
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Statistics 2017/18, England and Wales, 2019 ). The report also describes that in the same
duration there were around 14,400 minors who were first entrant to youth justice system while a
significant number of 26,700 young people and children were sentenced or cautioned. Hence
there is need of effective government policies and initiatives to manage this increasing youth
crime rate.
(Source: Youth Justice Statistics 2017/18, England and Wales, 2019 )
(Source: Youth Justice Statistics 2017/18, England and Wales, 2019 )
England and UK have youth justice system (YJS) which describes and have processes to
convict or prosecute the criminal offences committed by individuals under 18 years. The system
aims at preventing crime offences by young minors or children. The functioning and authority of
YJS is supported by crime and disorder act 1998 which describes YJS as non-departmental
public body (Goldson, 2018). England and Wales are actively working to minimise the
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Illustration 1: Knife and offensive weapon offences
committed by children in Wales and England
Illustration 2: Demographic characteristics of youth offenders

involvement of youth in crime activities. For instance All Wales youth offending strategy
between YJS and Welsh assembly works for analysing and improving various aspects related to
custody, bail accommodation and criminal age responsibility related issues for youth offences.
Youth justice board also monitor the justice system for young criminals to prevent offending by
young people and children and to assure that custody for such minors is safe and is effective to
address offending behaviour (Mannheim, 2019).
YJS also oversees the matters such as education, employment, health, resettlement and
custody issues of young offenders so that they can have new start and young criminals sustain a
normal life without indulging in criminal practices (Jackson and Bartie, 2015). The efforts of
government with other public organisations are aiming to prevent England and Wales from
becoming a prison hub with youngest criminals. YJS also assures that specific psychological
assistance, care, support and guidance from parents and health care professionals is provided to
each children so that along with the necessary punishment for the crime they can be provide a
rehabilitation. It helps to protect minors from committing crimes in future and delivers them
better future.
Risk factors contributing youth offending
The young children or minors are considered to be too young to be treated in similar way
as adult criminal. Their biological as well as psychological development is not completed and
thus most of the crimes committed by them are in unconscious state which is triggered by several
factors. The first factor is known to be lack of education and knowledge. In England and Wales
there has been trend that disadvantage communities does not have fair chance to get education
and schools or other youth services (Kelly and Armitage, 2015). This disillusion creates a feeling
of aggression and tendency to commit crime. School exclusion makes children more vulnerable
to drug, violence and theft based crimes. Thus there is need to provide appropriate funds so that
all children can receive education and can understand the difference between legal and illegal
activities.
According to social learning theory individuals particularly children learns by observing
others. Thus when young people observers their family members or peer children involving in
illegal activities then they began to follow the same (Phillips and Bowling, 2017). In many
crimes minors are not punished and only warnings are given. It makes young people fearless and
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in the wake of following others young people began to indulge in such activities. The
behavioural pattern of individuals are also associated with their gender, race and ethnicity.
The stereotypes or prejudices about a specific group make young people depressed and it
encourages them to show their anger in form of violence or other crime activities (Hayes, 2018).
In such situation parenting can also be considered as key driving force responsible for increasing
youth crime rates. Most of the parents does not interact with their children or have negligible
monitoring about their aggressive or depressing behaviour. Gradually such psychological aspects
turns into crime and attributes to youth offending (Wadsworth and Hammond, 2019). Thus it is
very essential that from childhood parents must focus on their children that they does not have
any aggressive behaviour. Parents must also educate their children so that they can understand
the severe implications of criminal offences.
(Source: Youth Justice Statistics 2017/18, England and Wales, 2019)
The economic factors such as unemployment, inequality and poverty can make young
people stressed and deprived of education and knowledge. It encourages minors to choose illegal
ways to improve their life style which in turn lead them into trouble. It has been also observed
that minor social groups may also feel insecure in society and thus unequal opportunities forces
them to choose illegal approaches (Souhami, 2015). Another significant driving force
responsible for increasing crime rate among young generation is behavioural and social factors.
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Illustration 3: Youth cautions in England and Wales by ethnicity

It is observed that many children are not supported by their families and experience neglect and
disorganisation for youth in heir community. It can disrupt their behaviour and low values are
placed to children.
In some communal groups it is very easy for youth to access drugs, alcohols and other
crime provoking elements. The increased level of corruption, poor law enforcing agencies also
provide a significant contribution to youth offending (Collins and Haudenhuyse, 2015). As per
behavioural theory the attitude and perspectives of children is influenced greatly by parenting
and their family environment. Thus children who witness criminal background in family, family
conflicts and lack of communication and care from family members, family violence and
breakups, child abuse and poor parental support and monitoring are also among the high
vulnerable groups who may commit crime.
The insecurity experienced by the young people and children and need of love, care,
attention and knowledge acts as key responsible factor which is making children criminals in
very young age (Wong and et.al., 2016). It has been also observed that young people does not
have fear for violating laws and thus the incidences of their reoffends are also increased
significantly in England. It has been also evaluated that in young age support and encouragement
from parents for committing crimes is also one of the critical factor in enhancing young crime
rates. Most of the parents does not realise that their actions, behaviour and encouragement to
misconduct of their child can result in offensive actions and behaviour. Thus parents must assure
that if they observe any kind of behavioural abnormalities in their child then they must make
child understand about its consequences (Phillips and Bowling, 2017). For this purpose families
can also seek help from counselling, rehabilitation centres and training programs to help children
with such vulnerabilities to commit crime.
Impact of youth offending on public services
The youth offending has significant impact upon quality of life of offenders, victims as
well as families. In addition to this it is also becoming a serious concern for public services to
ensure that the future generations does not engage in such destructive actions. For the young
prisoners government and YJS has to spend a huge amount of money so that along with the
imprisonment facilities they can also provide training and rehabilitation services. It is estimated
that for managing justice courts for young offenders around £5 billion are spent (Wadsworth and
Hammond, 2019). Out of this total expenditure 70% of amount is spent in policing, 17% on
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punishments and nearly 13% on trials. The total expenditure for Youth justice board was around
£455 million in year 2011 which has been raised continuously in the recent years.
The public services such as health care, police and rehabilitation centres are also required
to develop more effective policies so that increasing number of young criminals can be subjected
to services and rehabilitation facility. The health care services provide their offerings to both
young criminals as well as victims. The young criminals require psychological counselling,
medications to treat their mental disorders, aggression, drug addiction and self harming or
violence behaviour (Kelly and Armitage, 2015). The major public services for youth justice
includes young offender institutes, secure children home and training centres, youth offending
teams, crime prevention and surveillance teams.
The accommodation, training and justice system requires more expenditure and impactful
control framework so that youth crime incidences can be reduced. It has been also observed that
most of the victims of youth crime are also youth. Thus public bodies are also required to
establish a duty of care so that they can safeguard people (Wong and et.al., 2016). It becomes
more crucial in case of knife or violence activities. It has been also identified that social
perceptive regarding youth crime are not good and thus even after rehabilitation children or
youth may not receive equal treatment and respect due to their criminal history. Thus they may
be deprived of education, specific health care and other public services.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that increasing rate of youth crime is challenging and alarming
situation for public services as well as society. The implications have serious social and health
consequences on quality of life of young people. Thus it is very important that factors which
encourages the youth to commit crime must be identified and addressed. The harmful
consequences of offences committed at young age due to immaturity and lack of understanding
can affect the individuals for the entire life. It has been also analysed from the above discussion
that increasing role of parents, public service providers and improvement in punishment or legal
framework to balance deterrence is mandatory to protect young generations from such severe
offences. It can be concluded that it is very high time that issue must be addressed so that minors
can be prevented from involving in activities which threaten their prosperous future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Collins, M. and Haudenhuyse, R., 2015. Social exclusion and austerity policies in England: The
role of sports in a new area of social polarisation and inequality?. Social inclusion, 3(3),
pp.5-18.
Goldson, B. and Muncie, J. eds., 2015. Youth crime and justice. Sage.
Goldson, B., 2018. Transformations in youth crime and justice across Europe: evidencing the
case for diversion Lesley McAra and Susan McVie. In Juvenile Justice in Europe (pp.
94-123). Routledge.
Hayes, D., 2018. Experts look to public health model to tackle surge in youth knife
crime. Children & Young People Now. 2018(2). pp.12-13.
Jackson, L.A. and Bartie, A., 2015. Policing Youth: Britain. 1945–70.
Kelly, L. and Armitage, V., 2015. Diverse diversions: youth justice reform, localized practices,
and a ‘new interventionist diversion’?. Youth Justice. 15(2). pp.117-133.
Kupchik, A., Green, D.A. and Mowen, T.J., 2015. School punishment in the US and England:
Divergent frames and responses. Youth Justice. 15(1). pp.3-22.
Mannheim, H., 2019. Social aspects of crime in England between the wars. Routledge.
Phillips, C. and Bowling, B., 2017. Ethnicities, racism, crime and criminal justice. The Oxford
handbook of criminology. 6th ed. Oxford: OUP, pp.190-212.
Souhami, A., 2015. Creating the Youth Justice Board: Policy and policy making in English and
Welsh youth justice. Criminology & Criminal Justice. 15(2). pp.152-168.
Souhami, A., 2015. The central institutions of youth justice: Government bureaucracy and the
importance of the youth justice board for England and Wales. Youth Justice. 15(3).
pp.209-225.
Wadsworth, E. and Hammond, D., 2019. International differences in patterns of cannabis use
among youth: Prevalence, perceptions of harm, and driving under the influence in
Canada, England & United States. Addictive behaviors. 90. pp.171-175.
Wong, J.S. and et.al., 2016. Can at-risk youth be diverted from crime? A meta-analysis of
restorative diversion programs. Criminal Justice and Behavior. 43(10). pp.1310-1329.
Online
Youth Justice Statistics 2017/18, England and Wales. 2019. [Online]. Accessed through
<https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/774866/youth_justice_statistics_bulletin_2017_2018.pdf>
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