Risk Risk Assessment
Offenders of the future?
This manual aims to assist practitioners identify families with children aged between four and twelve who are at risk of becoming involved in criminal or antisocial behaviour and to target interventions that aim to reduce that risk. It is aimed at both planners - who decide in which neighbourhoods interventions will be located - and at practitioners, who deliver the interventions. The former need to develop clear priorities and effective targeting of resources and the latter need to identify and assess children at risk of offending and respond appropriately to their needs. The manual has been published by the Department for Education & Skills (DfES).
Title: Offenders of the Future? Assessing the Risk of
Children and Young People Becoming Involved in Criminal or
Antisocial Behaviour
Authors: Peter McCarthy,Karen Laing and Janet Walker
(University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
Series: DfES Research Report RR545
Number of pages: 127
Date published: July 2004
High levels of crime, particularly of juvenile offending, have been a matter of concern for many years. Finding ways of preventing children and young people from becoming involved in crime or antisocial behaviour has become a Government priority. The Government introduced a new Crime Reduction Programme for England and Wales in 1998, establishing a Youth Justice Board for England and Wales and Youth Offending Teams. With a clear focus on the prevention of offending and re-offending the programme aims to
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Work with families, children and schools.
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Tackle crime in local communities.
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Develop products and systems which are resistant to crime.
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Implement more effective sentencing practices.
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Work with offenders.
This manual is designed to help planners and practitioners to respond to the first of these aims.
It is essential that professionals across all the statutory and voluntary agencies have a clear understanding of risk, resilience, protection and need and of how these aspects of a child's life can be assessed. This manual offers a comprehensive point of reference which can be used in conjunction with a common assessment framework.
Risk
Work on identifying risk factors is based on an understanding that offending is part of a larger syndrome of antisocial activity which begins in childhood and often persists into adulthood.
The existence of one or more risk factors in a child's life is not a good predictor of outcomes and children vary in terms of how they respond to risk. Risk factors are context-dependent and vary over time and with different circumstances. Where multiple risk factors exist, there is increased likelihood of poor outcomes for children.
The best predictors of offending differ according to age group. For children aged between 6 and 11, committing an offence appears to be the best predictor of future delinquent behaviour; the strongest predictors for children aged 12 to 14 are a lack of social ties and association with antisocial peers.
Protection
Protective factors consist of internal assets and external strengths. They can help children reduce the risk of becoming involved in crime. The more protective factors there are, the greater the likelihood that a child will be resilient to risk. There are four broad types of protective processes, those which:
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Reduce the impact of, or exposure to risk.
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Reduce chain reactions to negative experience.
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Promote self esteem and achievement.
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Provide positive relationships and new opportunities.
When risk factors in a child's life are not amenable to change, interventions can work to provide compensatory experiences or to enhance protective factors in one or more of the relevant domains of a child's life: the community, the school, the family, or within the individual child.
Resilience
The majority of children identified as high risk do not engage in crime or antisocial behaviour. Despite challenging circumstances, children can develop resilience depending on the complex interplay between risk and protective factors. There are three primary ways in which children can display resilience:
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By achieving positive outcomes even though they are at high risk.
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By adapting successfully to stressful situations.
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By recovering quickly from a crisis.
Children with a stronger sense of attachment to other people, a more positive outlook on life, more plans for the future and more control over their lives are more likely to demonstrate resilience.
Need
If a child is assessed as being 'at risk', this does not necessarily mean that the child is 'in need'. Need exists where there is an identifiable, effective and available solution to a perceived problem. Risk assessment and needs assessment are different, although they often go hand-in-hand and can sometimes be confused. Once an assessment of risk has been made, the focus can turn to the identification of need in order to establish which children and families are in need of, and can benefit from, interventions that are available.
Getting a copy
PDF 700KbInstructions for ordering paper copies (priced £4.95) can be found on the DfES website.
Last update: 05 July 2004