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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
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Results for juvenile offenders (scotland)
17 results foundAuthor: Scotland. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons Title: Report on Young Offenders in Adult Establishments Summary: This inspection focused on the conditions in which young offenders in Scotland are held and the treatment they receive in smaller units within adult establishments. Details: Edinburgh: HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 2009. 36p. Source: Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 116264 Keywords: Juvenile Detention (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland) |
Author: Duru, Edward Title: Children Who Present a Risk of Serious Harm Summary: This aim of this study is to inform understanding about a group of children who present a risk of serious harm to others. It addresses two major concerns: (1) It seeks to profile the backgrounds of a sample of children who present a risk of serious harm; (2) It seeks to analyze the children's contact with the Children's Hearing System. Details: Stirling: Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, 2008. 57p. Source: Available at the Rutgers Criminal Justice Library. Year: 2008 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 117083 Keywords: Child Protection Services (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Young Offenders (Scotland) |
Author: Deuchar, Ross Title: The Impact of Curfews and Restriction of Liberty Orders (RLOs) on Young Gang Members in Glasgow Summary: This exploratory study focused on the impact of curfews and electronic monitoring (EM) on a small sample of young people in the West of Scotland who had a history of gang involvement and who had progressed to more serious criminal offending. It sought to explore the perceived impact of such spatial and temporal restrictions on the social capital, wellbeing, agency and citizenship experienced by both the young offenders themselves and their families and carers. It also sought to explore the motivations underpinning young offenders’ patterns of compliance and short-term desistance from offending. Drawing upon data from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2006 (SIMD), three communities with particularly high proportions of multiple deprivation were identified. Open-ended interviews were conducted with local gatekeepers such as social workers and youth workers, and these gatekeepers facilitated contact with young people and families. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten young men1 between the ages of 16 and 21 across the focused communities, all of whom were either currently assigned to a curfew or had been assigned to one in the past two years. Interviews were also conducted with members of the young offenders’ immediate support units, such as parents, carers or partners. Through a process of snowball sampling, the researcher subsequently gathered further intelligence from local gatekeepers about young men who belonged to each of the identified communities but who were serving prison sentences in Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution in Scotland. Through a subsequent process of liaison with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), a further six young men agreed to participate in interviews. This allowed a comparative element to emerge, which focused on the perceived severity of different sanctions associated with the restriction of young people’s liberty. Details: Strathclyde, UK: University of Strathclyde, School of Education, 2010. 5p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 7, 2011 at: http://www.uws.ac.uk/schoolsdepts/education/documents/TheImpactofCurfewsandRestrictionofLibertyOrders.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.uws.ac.uk/schoolsdepts/education/documents/TheImpactofCurfewsandRestrictionofLibertyOrders.pdf Shelf Number: 122003 Keywords: CurfewsElectronic MonitoringGangsJuvenile Offenders (Scotland) |
Author: McVie, Susan Title: Animal Abuse Amongst Young People Aged 13 to 17: Trends, Trajectories and Links with Other Offending Summary: The aims of this report are four-fold: to examine the prevalence and frequency of animal abuse during adolescence and compare this with involvement in other forms of both violent and nonviolent delinquent behaviours; to investigate a broad range of characteristics amongst those who get involved in animal abuse, other violent behaviour, non-violent offending and nonoffenders; to identify how offending trajectories of abuse against animals develop over time and compare this to trajectories of interpersonal violence; and to isolate those characteristics that best explain different animal abuse offending trajectories. This report is based on detailed analysis of data collected by the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime. The Edinburgh Study is a prospective, longitudinal study of criminal offending amongst a large cohort of young people in the Scottish capital. The main aim of the study is to investigate the factors and processes that lead some young people to become involved in serious and persistent criminal offending, with a particular emphasis on gender differences. The study involves a cohort of around 4,300 young people who started secondary school in the city of Edinburgh in the autumn of 1998, when they were aged 12 on average. The design of the study includes six annual sweeps of self-report data collection from cohort members and collection of data from a range of official agencies, including police, social work, the Children’s Reporter and schools. The analysis for this report draws on both self report data and information held by official agencies. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: School Law, University of Edinburgh, 2007. 55p. Source: Report prepared for the RSPCA Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/RSPCA.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/RSPCA.pdf Shelf Number: 109050 Keywords: Animal Abuse (Scotland)Criminal Careers (Scotland)Juvenile Delinquency (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland) |
Author: Smith, David J. Title: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime: Key Findings at Ages 12 and 13 Summary: The rise in crime is one of the most striking social changes since the Second World War. Police recorded crime rose dramatically between 1950 and the mid 1990s in all developed countries (except Japan) and, because of the shape of the age-crime curve, this is to a large extent the result of an increase in misconduct and ordinary crimes committed by young people (Smith, 1995). This increase in problem behaviour among young people has also been paralleled by post-war increases in other psychosocial disorders during the teenage years, such as suicide, eating disorders and personality dysfunctions (Smith & Rutter, 1995). These major societal changes have meant that youth crime, and indeed issues in relation to young people in general, have become a salient political issue As a result of these societal and political developments, studies into changes in criminal offending over the life course are critical to contemporary criminology. By far the most important previous British study in this field is the Cambridge Study of Delinquent Development, a major longitudinal study which continues to study the determinants and predictability of criminal offending among a group of people who were 8 years old in 1961 (Farrington and West, 1990). However, the origins of this study are somewhat outdated and contemporary studies are needed, combining both psychological and sociological approaches, to focus on a substantially different set of intellectual and policy questions. The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime is a major longitudinal of around 4,300 young people who started their first year of secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in August 1998, when most of them were around 11½ and 12½ years of age. The study aims to further our understanding of criminal behaviour among young people by studying them over a key period of development. There are four key objectives underpinning the study: To investigate and identify the factors which impact on young people’s offending behaviour and the processes which are involved; To examine these factors and processes within 3 main contexts: individual development through the life course; the impact of interactions with formal agencies of social control and law enforcement; the effect of the physical and social structure of the individual’s neighbourhood; Within each of the above three contexts, to examine the striking differences between the extent and patterns of criminal offending between males and females; and To contribute towards the development and empirical evaluation of theories which explain people’s involvement in criminal offending behaviour, particularly those who go on to become serious and persistent offenders. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: School of Law, University of Edinburgh, Centre for Law and Society, 2001. 202p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 17, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findreport/wholereport.pdf Year: 2001 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findreport/wholereport.pdf Shelf Number: 91566 Keywords: Demographic Trends (Scotland)Juvenile Delinquency (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland) |
Author: Smith, David Title: Gender and Youth Offending Summary: There is a substantial difference between boys and girls in levels of serious delinquency, but a relatively small difference in levels of broad delinquency, including trivial as well as serious incidents. Among young people included in the Edinburgh Study, delinquency increased sharply through sweeps 1 to 3 (age 12 to 14) but then started to decline. The increase was greater among girls than among boys, so that the gender gap in offending was smallest around the age of 14, and then began to increase again. Girls are involved in certain specific forms of delinquency—theft from home, writing graffiti, and truancy—more often than boys. Certain specific forms of delinquency—carrying a weapon, housebreaking, robbery, theft from cars, cruelty to animals—are much more common among boys than girls. The explanations for delinquency involve many different factors in at least six different domains of explanation. For the most part the explanatory model for broad delinquency is much the same among boys and girls. The explanatory factors captured by the Edin-burgh Study explain all of the difference in broad delinquency between boys and girls at the age of 15. The high rates of broad delinquency among boys compared with girls are largely ex-plained by situational opportunities and peer influence, higher rates of crime victimiza-tion, and weakened tutelage and moral beliefs. By contrast, boys remain much more likely to be involved in serious delinquency at the age of 15, even after taking account of 20 explanatory variables captured by the Edin-burgh Study. This finding suggests that the difference in serious delinquency between boys and girls is caused by a factor not measured in the study. In spite of some broad similarities, there are substantial differences between the models needed to explain serious delinquency in boys and girls. The findings are consistent with the theory that broad delinquency tends to be limited to adolescence, whereas serious offending is more likely to persist throughout the life course, and to be caused by deep-seated neuropsychological deficits, which are more common in boys than girls. Details: Ediburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2004. 24p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report Number 2: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest2.pdf Year: 2004 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest2.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Demographic Trends (Scotland)Gender (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland) |
Author: Smith, David Title: Parenting and Delinquency at Ages 12 to 15 Summary: Many current policy initiatives, both in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK, aim to reduce youth crime by targeting parents. These initiatives are based on the assumption that styles of parenting have an important influence on adolescent behaviour. In broad terms, that assumption is backed up by a great weight of evidence from social science research. The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between parenting and youth crime in more detail, and thus to support a closer analysis of the kinds of policy that are likely to be successful in this field. It draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (The Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending among a single cohort of young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. Information about parenting and family functioning was obtained at each sweep from the young people themselves. In addition, a survey of one parent (the main care-giver) of each cohort member was carried out in the autumn of 2001, concurrently with sweep 4. Detailed and parallel measures of parenting and family functioning were included in the survey of parents and in the sweep 4 questionnaires completed by their children at about the same time. The study therefore provides a balanced picture of the parent/child rela-tionship as seen by both sides. The key findings of this report are as follows: Styles of parenting are closely related to crime and antisocial behaviour in teenagers. Aspects of parenting and family functioning when children were aged 13 were good pre-dictors of juvenile delinquency two years later, when they were aged 15. This demon-strates that parenting had a genuine causal influence on the later behaviour of teenagers. When young people were aged 15, seven distinct dimensions of parenting and family functioning were independently related to levels of delinquency. The most important fac-tors were parents tracking and monitoring behaviour, the child’s willingness to disclose information, parental consistency, and avoiding parent/child conflict and excessive pun-ishment. The findings fit with a social learning theory of effective parenting and child develop-ment. The key idea is that children will repeat patterns of behaviour that reward them in the short term. Parents should ensure that only acceptable behaviour is rewarded. Parenting and family functioning are influenced by the social context. Parents with poor resources and in deprived neighbourhoods find it more difficult to be effective. The findings highlight programmes for improving parenting skills as a possible means of reducing crime, but there are limits to what the state can do to encourage better parenting and it is particularly difficult to help those who are most in need. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2004. 24p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transistions and Crime, Report No. 3: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest3.pdf Year: 2004 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest3.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Parents (Scotland) |
Author: Smith, David J. Title: The Links Between Victimization and Offending Summary: In our current study of a cohort of around 4,300 young people in Edinburgh, we have found a close relationship between crime victimization and self-reported delinquency. The purpose of this paper is to describe and explore this relationship between delin-quency and victimization in young people, and to consider some possible explanations for it. The paper draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (The Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending among a single cohort of young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. The key findings of the study are as follows: At sweep 4 (age 15) a broad measure of delinquency was seven times as high among those who had been victims of five types of crime as among those who had not been vic-tims of any. The variation in serious delinquency was still more extreme. Being a victim of assault with a weapon and of robbery were more strongly associated with delinquency than were other forms of victimization. Being harassed by adults was also strongly associated with delinquency. This could be because rowdy youths draw attention to themselves, which they interpret as harassment. However, this could not apply to all of the harassment items. It could not explain, for example, why youths who said adults had indecently exposed themselves to them or fol-lowed them in a car had higher rates of self-reported delinquency than others. It seems that offending makes youths vulnerable to adult harassment. The strongest link is between victimization and offending over the same time period, but there remains a fairly strong association after a period of three years. Victimization pre-dicts delinquency three years later; and also, delinquency predicts victimization three years later. The more often victimization is repeated, the more strongly it predicts delinquency. Con-sistently repeated victimization (without any gaps) predicts delinquency most strongly of all. The most important factors explaining the link between victimization and offending were getting involved in risky activities and situations, and having a delinquent circle of friends. This is because the same activities, situations, and social circles lead both to vic-timization and to offending. To a small extent, also, the same personality traits underlie both. There is evidence for a genuine causal link between victimization and offending, running in both directions. This is because the two are linked over time, after allowing for the effects of many explanatory variables. The findings reinforce the Kilbrandon philosophy, which insists on dealing with young people according to their needs arising from their various troubles, and not primarily as offenders or as victims. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2004. 21p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Number 5: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest5.pdf Year: 2004 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest5.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: At-Risk Youth (Scotland)Juvenile Delinquency (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Victimization (Scotland) |
Author: McAra, Lesley Title: Patterns of Referral to the Children's Hearing System for Drug and Alcohol Misuse Summary: The purpose of this paper is to explore patterns of referral to the children’s hearings system for drug and/or alcohol misuse. It draws on the findings of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (the Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending for a cohort of around 4,300 young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. The key findings are as follows: Only a small proportion (10 per cent) of children in the Edinburgh Study cohort with a children’s hearing record, were ever referred to the reporter on J grounds (for drug or alcohol misuse). However J ground referrals were only one of several routes into the hearings system for children with significant substance misuse problems. A further 3 per cent of those with records were referred for Misuse of Drugs Act offences and in another 11 per cent of cases drug and/or alcohol misuse was raised as a key issue in reports. Children known to the hearings system for substance misuse and other children with a hearings record were significantly more likely to be living in a single parent household and to come from a socially deprived background than non-record children. Self-reported substance misuse was significantly higher amongst children known to the hearings system for drug and/or alcohol misuse than amongst other children with a hearings record and non-record children. In official records, alcohol misuse was the most commonly identified problem. Children known to the system for drug and/or alcohol misuse exhibited high levels of anti-social and disruptive behaviour had problematic family and peer relationships and absconded regularly from school. Parental substance misuse, however, was not identified as a common problem in records. The earliest substance misuse referrals were made at age 11 and peaked at sweep five (reference period fourth year of secondary education). A high proportion of these children had a long history of involvement with the system, mostly for offending or being beyond the control of a relevant person. Just over a third of referrals with a substance misuse component resulted in a hearing, the most common outcome of which was a home supervision requirement. Children made subject to compulsory measures of care appear to have only limited access to specialist drug and/or alcohol programmes. Reports indicate that social work interventions focused on: the child’s challenging behaviour; truancy; the capacity of parents to control their children; and parent/child relationship breakdown. Compulsory measures of care may only have a limited impact on substance misuse. Just under two-thirds of those with a hearing had at least one further referral to the hearings system in later years. Moreover drug and/or alcohol misuse was raised as a key issue in the referral process in later years, for just under a half of children made subject to compulsory measures of care. Very few children in the Edinburgh cohort who regularly drank alcohol or took drugs were known to the hearings system. Level of drug use was only a weak predictor of having a hearings record. Substance misusers most likely to be referred were those who: were not living with two birth parents; came from a socially deprived background; exhibited challenging behaviour in the context of school; and came frequently to the attention of the police (importantly the latter were not always the most persistent and serious offenders). The findings are supportive of policy initiatives aimed at broadening the range of community- based services, access to which is not predominantly controlled by the police, schools or social work. The findings also suggest that sports and leisure programmes which aim to divert youngsters away from the streets and into meaningful, structured activities have an important role to play in preventing or reducing substance misuse amongst children. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2005. 34p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Number 6: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest6.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest6.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Alcohol Abuse (Scotland)Drug Abuse (Scotland)Juvenile Justice System (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Substance Abuse (Scotland) |
Author: McVie, Susan Title: Adolescent Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Summary: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships and inter-dependence between tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use in adolescence and the characteristics of substance users. It draws on the findings of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways in and out of offending for a cohort of around 4,300 young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. Tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and drug use all rose dramatically between ages 12 and 15, although there was a particularly sharp increase around age 13 to 14. Girls were more likely than boys to smoke from age 13 and drink alcohol from age 14, and equally likely to take drugs from age 14. Age of starting was lowest for alcohol, followed by smoking and then illicit drug use. Early experimentation resulted in behavioural continuity for all three substances, demonstrated by the high proportion of drinkers, smokers and drug users at age 12 who continued to report such behaviours at subsequent sweeps. Alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use are closely inter-related and demonstrate a high level of dose-dependence, whereby increased frequency of use of one coincides with increased frequency of use of the other. Within each substance type, there is evidence of sequential progression from occasional use at one age to regular use later. Multiple substance users report higher levels of delinquency and victimisation; higher impulsivity and lower self-esteem; greater involvement in unconventional activities; weaker parental supervision and stronger peer influence than single substance users and non-users. These findings are supportive of policies that recognise the close links between tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use and ensure that education or health-based initiatives involve an integrated response. Early intervention may be most effective in terms of preventing continued and more serious misuse in later adolescence. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2005. 44p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 7: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest7.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest7.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Alcohol Use and Abuse (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Longitudinal Studies (Scotland)Substance Abuse (Scotland)Tobacco (Scotland) |
Author: Smith, David J. Title: Gang Membership and Teenage Offending Summary: The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of gang membership on teenage offending and substance use (alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit drugs). It draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (‘the Edinburgh Study’), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending for a cohort of around 4,300 young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. The key findings are as follows: About 20 per cent of young people said they belonged to a gang at the age of 13, falling to 5 per cent by the age of 17. However, membership of ‘hard core’ gangs, defined as having a well-defined subversive identity expressed through a specific name and sign or saying, remained level over these years. Gangs were fairly large: when cohort members were aged 17, half of them consisted of 20 or more people. Gang membership was rather more common in children from less affluent families and in those not living with both parents, but more striking was the much higher level of gang membership in deprived neighbourhoods. This shows that the social and ecological context is more important than the characteristics of the individual family. Just as high a proportion of girls as boys were members of gangs at the age of 13, but thereafter gang membership fell much more rapidly in girls than boys. Rates of delinquency and substance use were much higher in gang members than others throughout the years from 13 to 17, and this applied both to girls and to boys. The same individuals committed more offences during periods when they were gang members than during other periods. This shows that the link between delinquency and gang membership is independent of the characteristics of the individuals who join gangs. Gang membership has a strong statistical effect on delinquency when holding constant the effects of a range of other factors. The broader context of these findings is that much youth offending is a group activity. However, the study also shows that between the ages of 13 and 17 young people in Edinburgh tended to grow out of the need to identify with a gang while at the same time their offending tended to reduce. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2005. 25p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 8: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest8.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest8.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Youth Gangs (Scotland) |
Author: McVie, Susan Title: Family Functioning and Substance Use at Ages 12 to 17 Summary: This paper explores the relationship between family functioning and substance use among young people aged 12 to 17. It draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (the Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending among a single age cohort of young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. Between the ages of 12 and 17, prevalence of smoking, drinking and illicit drug use increased continuously amongst cohort members. From age 13 onwards, girls were more likely to smoke weekly than boys, although there was little or no gender difference in terms of weekly drinking or drug use in the last year. Family characteristics and parenting styles were found to play a significant role in the substance using behaviour of young people. There was evidence of a causal link between these factors, since family related factors at age 15 predicted substance use at age 17. Excessive drinking and involvement in drug use amongst parents strongly predicted young people’s involvement in smoking and drug use. Parents’ drinking and drug use was not related to their children’s drinking. The difference may arise because smoking and drug use are considered deviant, whereas drinking is more widely accepted. Five dimensions of parenting consistently predicted involvement in smoking, drinking and drug use. Ineffective parenting methods were characterised by high levels of parent/ child conflict, poor parental monitoring and lack of leisure time spent doing activities together. Substance using children were likely to conceal information about their social activities from their parents, although they were more likely to report engaging in positive forms of conflict resolution. There were important demographic differences between smokers and other substance users which have policy implications for prevention strategies. Smokers were more likely to be female and from less affluent backgrounds, whereas drinkers and drug users (at age 17) were likely to be from more affluent backgrounds. These findings are broadly supportive of social learning theory and indicate the need to provide information on methods of parenting which may be more effective in tackling various forms of problematic behaviour, including substance use. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2005. 35p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 9: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest9.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest9.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Family Relationships (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Parents (Scotland)Substance Abuse (Scotland) |
Author: Norris, Paul Title: Neighbourhood Effects on Youth Delinquency and Drug Use Summary: This report aims to investigate whether the characteristics of residential neighbourhoods exert an influence on two forms of problematic adolescent behaviour, criminal offending and drug use, that is independent of factors relating specifically to the individual. It draws on the findings of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (the Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending for a cohort of 4,328 young people, who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. The key findings are as follows: Characteristics of the neighbourhoods in which young people live do play a role in influencing aspects of their delinquent and drug using behaviour, although their impact is relatively weak in comparison to the effect of individual characteristics, such as gender and personality. The neighbourhood factors involved in explaining higher levels of delinquency, cannabis and hard drug use amongst 16 year olds are quite different, which indicates that a different theoretical framework may be needed to understand the contextual effects of areas on different problematic behaviours. Whereas delinquency and hard drug use are partially explained by negative neighbourhood characteristics (such as greater deprivation in the case of delinquency and higher crime rates for hard drug use), more frequent cannabis use is greater within prosperous neighbourhoods but also within areas in which there is greater social disorganisation. The findings support crime control policies based on tackling underlying structural deprivation (such as unemployment and density of local authority housing). However, they also indicate that community-based strategies that take a uniform approach to tackling both crime and drug use are unlikely to be entirely successful due to the different influences of neighbourhood factors. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2006. 34p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 10: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest10.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest10.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Neighborhoods and Crime (Scotland)Substance Abuse (Scotland) |
Author: Norris, Paul Title: The Effect of Neighbourhoods on Adolescent Property Offending Summary: The aim of this report is to examine young people’s involvement in property crime and to assess whether such behaviour can be predicted by neighbourhood characteristics at an early age. A key aspect of this investigation is whether different offending trajectories are influenced to a greater extent by young people’s perceptions of their neighbourhood or by the actual physical and social features of the neighbourhood itself. The report draws upon the findings of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime and uses a range of data including the self reports of 4,328 young people and various neighbourhood-level data taken from the 2001 census, police records and a survey of community residents. The key findings are as follows: Property crime is fairly uncommon amongst young people, although a small minority are involved from an early age and offend quite persistently. Vandalism is the most common form of property crime, whereas housebreaking and fire-raising are rare. Three distinctive property offender groups were identified: an early onset group who desisted sharply from around age 14; a late onset group who increased their offending from age 13 to 15, before declining only slightly; and a chronic group of offenders who were consistently involved in the highest volume of property crime from age 13 to 17, although they did show a sharp decline in offending from age 15. Neighbourhood characteristics at age 12 do play a part in influencing whether or not a young person starts property offending during early adolescence. Over and above this, young people’s perceptions of their neighbourhood impact on their offending. Young people who perceive their areas to be poorly controlled by the adults who reside there are more likely to start offending early. Those who get involved in chronic property offending are significantly more likely than other young people to live in socially disorganised neighbourhoods, which are characterised by frequent population turnover and a high density of young people. These findings provide support for initiatives which aim to empower communities to deal with offending at the local level by adopting strategies that emphasise a lack of tolerance towards crime and disorder amongst young people and which focus on improving social capital within residential neighbourhoods. Area based initiatives aimed at preventing property crime amongst young people are most likely to be effective if they target adolescents at age 12 or under, whereas those who start offending later appear to be less influenced by neighbourhood conditions. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2006. 38p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 11: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest11.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest11.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Neighborhoods and Crime (Scotland)Property Crime (Scotland)Social Disorganization (Scotland) |
Author: Smith, David J. Title: Social Inclusion and Early Desistence from Crime Summary: This paper examines the pattern of change in the level of offending as young people move through adolescence between the ages of 12 and 17. In particular, it examines why offending declines among a substantial proportion of young people after the age of 14, whereas it continues among others. The analysis focuses on factors connected with social inclusion and bonds with school and family. It draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (the Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending among a single cohort of young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. The key findings are as follows: Offending peaked around the age of 14 among both boys and girls in the Edinburgh Study cohort. This finding is based on a broad measure of self-reported delinquency. The peak age for a measure of more serious self-reported delinquency was also 14 for girls, but was 14-15 for boys. After the age of 14 there was a fairly steep and steady decline in the proportion of young people involved in broad delinquency among both boys and girls. Among those who continued to be involved, the amount of offending also declined. There was a similar decline in the proportion involved in more serious delinquency, except that in boys this started after the age of 15 rather than 14. It was therefore common for young people to reduce their offending sharply or stop altogether in early or middle adolescence. At sweep 3 (age 14), 52.2 per cent of boys had engaged in four or more delinquent acts in the previous 12 months. By sweep 6 (age 17), nearly half of these (amounting to 24.5 per cent of the total) had stopped or sharply reduced their offending. Among girls, the proportion offending was lower, and the rate of desistance from offending was higher. There was no evidence that deprivation at the level of the individual family was associated with continuing to offend. Young people from higher social classes and intact families were no more likely than others to desist from offending. Desistance was, however, associated with the characteristics of the neighbourhood where the young person lived. Continuing to offend was more common in deprived neighbourhoods, whereas desistance was more common in advantaged ones. Also, desistance was less likely in neighbourhoods perceived to be disorderly, and where residents were dissatisfied with the neighbourhood. Bonds with teachers and parents, and parents’ involvement in school, were associated with desistance from offending. Young offenders who had been caught by the police were considerably more likely to continue offending than offenders who had not been caught. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2006. 21p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 12: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest12.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest12.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Desistance from Crime (Scotland)Families (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland) |
Author: Smith, David J. Title: School Experiences and Delinquency at Ages 13 to 16 Summary: This briefing paper presents evidence from the Edinburgh Study on the relationship between experiences at school and delinquency in young people aged between 13 and 16. The report examines the links between various aspects of school experience, including commitment to school, attachment to teachers, experience of truancy and exclusion and involvement in bullying, and misbehaviour at school and other forms of delinquency. It draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending among a single cohort of young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. Questions about school were included in questionnaires completed by the young people at four of the annual sweeps, at ages 13, 15, 16 and 17. This report focuses on sweeps 2, 4 and 5 because by sweep 6 half of the cohort had left school. In addition, it makes use of school records of attendance and exclusion from school. The key findings are as follows: Attachment to school is related to young people’s behaviour in school and more widely to delinquent and criminal conduct. The most important dimension is attachment to teachers, but the belief that school success will bring later rewards is also important. Parents’ commitment to school is related to their children’s behaviour, including both misbehaviour in school and criminal conduct. Misbehaviour at school was clearly related to exclusion, but was a rather small part of the explanation for it. Truancy and delinquency were only weakly related to exclusion. Given their levels of bad behaviour in school, delinquency, and truancy, boys and those from working class or unemployed households were substantially more likely to have been excluded from school than girls and those from non-manual households. Analysis of the change in behaviour of people between the ages of 13 and 15 has shown that attachment to teachers at age 13 was related to lower levels of misbehaviour and delinquency at age 15, after controlling for social and family background. This indicates that there is a role for schools in preventing the development of delinquent behaviour. Analysis of behaviour change also found that misbehaviour at school at age 13 was related to an increase in delinquency over the following two years. This shows that controlling misbehaviour in school is important because, along with a range of other factors, such misbehaviour tends to lead to later criminal conduct. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2006. 20p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 13: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest13.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest13.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Schools (Scotland) |
Author: Rigby, Paul Title: Young People and MAPPA in Scotland Summary: The majority of young people in Scotland involved in offending behaviour are dealt with via the Children's Hearing system, which provides an integrated approach to addressing both welfare needs and offending or criminal deeds. While a small minority who are involved in sexual offending will be processed through the criminal courts and become subject to supervision and monitoring under Scotland's Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), international guidelines and best practice indicate that children (all persons under the age of 18 years) should not be prosecuted in adult court and processed in the same systems as adult offenders. The present research was an exploratory study to provide a baseline for future investigation of the responses across Scotland to children and young people involved in sexual offending and sexually harmful behaviour, and to examine comparative profiles and practices in MAPPA and Child Protection/Children's Hearing arrangements to establish shared principles for effective risk management. The aims were to: - Profile the needs and risks presented by young people subject to MAPPA - Establish a coherent overview of risk management practices and processes - Understand how risks and needs of children and young people under 18, and the protection of the wider community, are managed A multi-methods approach was adopted for the study, and due to the sensitive nature of the work, developed through a staged process of ethical and methodological approval. In conjunction with staff at Scottish Police Services Authority a data collection tool was developed to collate data from the secure Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR) electronic record system. A second tool was also designed to collect data from local authority staff working with young people subject to MAPPA. Nine follow up interviews were also held with social work staff. Mid November 2011 was the agreed date for accessing the data. Details: Edinburgh: Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice, 2014. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 27, 2014 at: http://www.cycj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Young-people-and-MAPPA-final.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cycj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Young-people-and-MAPPA-final.pdf Shelf Number: 133825 Keywords: Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Juvenile Sex OffendersMulti-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPAYoung Adult Offenders |