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Youth crime has been decreasing year on year - you want a reference to support this

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During 2018-19, around 44% of all households threatened with homelessness were families with dependent children, down from 46% during 2017-18.

Lone parents (with dependent children) and single person households accounted for 84% of all households assessed as eligible, unintentionally homeless and in priority need in 2018-19. These household types are considerably over-represented in comparison with their share of the household population. One parent households (with dependent children) accounted for 32.3% of homelessness cases compared with 7.5% of the household population in 2011.

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Wellbeing of Wales, 2022 (children and young people's wellbeing): a Wales of cohesive communities [HTML] | GOV.WALES

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During 2018-19, around 44% of all households threatened with homelessness were families with dependent children, down from 46% during 2017-18. Lone parents (with dependent children) and single person households accounted for 84% of all households assessed as eligible, unintentionally homeless and in priority need in 2018-19.

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How lockdown curbed teen pregnancies in mid Wales

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Teenage pregnancy rates fell across mid Wales in 2020, new figures show - with the lockdowns that prevented teens from socializing behind the fall.

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Under 16 number

Under 16 rate

Under 18 number

Under 18 rate

Under 20 number

Under 20 rate

All ages number

All ages rate

Wales

1,213

23.9

6,856

128.8

19,118

208.0

206,562

363.7

Wales

Betsi Cadwaladr ULHB

*

*

1,644

141.1

4,389

226.7

45,200

383.8

Betsi Cadwaladr ULHB

Isle of Anglesey

*

*

142

125.1

394

221.8

4,478

406.0

Powys Teaching LHB

Powys

47

21.7

211

89.7

604

164.8

7,008

355.7

Hywel Dda ULHB

*

*

683

106.6

2,026

180.6

21,885

341.5

Hywel Dda ULHB

Ceredigion

*

*

98

90.7

338

130.2

3,695

275.2

Abertawe Bro Morgannwg ULHB

218

25.8

1,178

134.3

3,188

209.8

34,437

355.4

Cardiff & Vale ULHB

175

23.0

1,037

129.4

2,909

182.1

36,599

348.0

Cwm Taf ULHB

*

*

869

165.6

2,344

265.2

21,759

381.8

Aneurin Bevan ULHB

*

*

1,234

114.4

3,658

207.4

39,674

369.9

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Under 16 number Under 16 rate Under 18 number Under 18 rate Under 20 number Under 20 rate All ages number All ages rate Wales 1,213 23.9 6,856 128.8 19,118 208.0 206,562 363.7 Wales Betsi Cadwaladr ULHB * * 1,644 141.1 4,389 226.7 45,200 383.8 Betsi Cadwaladr ULHB Isle of

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Interesting news source teenage pregnancy

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Interesting news source teenage pregnancy

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This source discusses the current situation with teenage pregnancy

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We look at the under-18 conception rate in England and how it has changed over time.

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Stanley Cohen Folk Devils and Moral Panics

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This is very interesting, link it to the second section

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This is very interesting, link it to the second section

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United Kingdom Youth Unemployment Rate | 1983-2019 Data | 2020-2022 Forecast

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Youth Unemployment Rate in the United Kingdom decreased to 11 percent in November from 11.20 percent in October of 2019. Youth Unemployment Rate in the United Kingdom averaged 14.97 percent from 1983 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 22.30 percent in October of 2011 and a record low of 9.70 percent in August of 1989.

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How can Luke's Three Dimensions of Power be used to socially construct young people’s perceived problems?

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How can Luke's Three Dimensions of Power be used to socially construct young people’s perceived problems?

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•Teenage pregnancy

•Youth unemployment

•Youth crime

•Child abuse

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Deviance is defined as the recognized violation of cultural norms. This is an extremely broad definition, and depending on who is explaining it, the above definition can mean a variety of different things. Critically examine the theory of deviance with reference to young people and their membership in deviant subcultures or gangs. Deviance is associated with young people today and is rapidly on the increase within the street and school environment. Young deviants are engaging in gang membership and subcultures with a means of social belonging, social interest and ethnic identity. There are several sociological and subcultural theories which deem to explain deviance. Some of the theories are functionalist pretentious that criminal ...show more content...

The Chicago school on gangs urbanized the school into a set of theories arguing that certain groups or subcultures in society have values and attitudes that contribute to crime and deviance. The key focus is on juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency refers to criminal acts performed by juveniles, a juvenile is a young person. Theorists deem that if this precedent of criminal behaviour can be understood and controlled, it will break the transition from teenage offender into habitual criminal. Subcultural theorists argue that certain groups develop norms and values which are diverse from those held by other affiliates of society. Subcultural theories argue that deviance is the result of individuals conforming to the values and norms of the social group to which they belong. Their subculture allows them to commit certain acts which are seen as deviant. Albert K. Cohen agreed with this subcultural theory on deviance, where he believed that the development of subcultures is explained in terms of the position of groups or individuals in the social structure. Sociological theories on deviance diverge from biological and psychological theories that elucidate norm violation in terms of social notion, the development of theories of deviance reflect the social

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Deviance is defined as the recognized violation of cultural norms. This is an extremely broad definition, and depending on who is explaining it, the above definition can mean a variety of different things. Critically examine the theory of deviance with reference to young people and their membership in deviant subcultures or gangs.

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Effects Of Cultural Beliefs On Teenage Pregnacy In some traditional societies, teenage pregnancy is accepted and even wished for by the society and it is part and parcel of the traditional normative programme. Therefore, in traditional Africa, fertility during adolescence is not a social problem. A demographic survey conducted in Kano, a city in the Northern part of Nigeria shows that 41 percent of girls had married by the age of 14, because it has been culturally accepted by the various members in the society and the norms and ethics are been followed for ages. According to Ford and Beach (1957), the Chewa of South America are examples of liberal culture. They have the belief that unless children begin early enough to engage in pre-marital sexuality, they will not have children later in life in this culture, older children with the full consent of their parents, build little huts some distance away from the village, playing as being husbands and wives. Such child�s play extends into young adulthood with periodic exchange of partners until marriage occurs. In Nigeria, which is a patriarchal society, women have few legal, economic or social rights and this includes rights over their own bodies. In some societies, marriage is been arranged by the parents, elders or chiefs. Young girls are often taken out of school to satisfy the cultural norms of childhood marriage. An NDHs survey found out that 19% of girls cited marriage as a reason for leaving school. Teenage pregnancy is seen as a means of maintaining chastity. One of the aspects of the social life that is seen as a contributing factor through cultural belief to teenage pregnancy is gender violence. This is defined as the act of force or coercion directed at individual women and perpetuating female subordination thereby enhancing pregnancy among teens. Parental Roles The family is the primary agent of socialization where the correct moral standards should be given to children. The home plays an interesting and domineering role in sexual socialization because it is within the context of the home, that is where one�s sexual and otherwise activities occurs (Akinboye, 1997). Parenting styles, where there is extreme permissiveness where adolescents are allowed to do what they like without control, there is more like close of deviant sexual behavior and teenage pregnancy are concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior. In many developing communities, parents still have a tremendous influence over their children despite eroding traditional values especially in urban centers. Consequently, parents bear the responsibility of meeting the reproductive health needs of their children. However, as reported by Briggs (1994), most parents or guardians do not discuss sexual matters with their daughters or wards because of shyness, ignorance or societal norms that do not encourage open mother with daughter discussion on sexual matters. In a study by Briggs, the view point of parents on reproductive health, specifically their attitude towards contraceptive use among sexually active adolescent daughters and general opinion on adolescent pregnancy was examined. The findings were quite interesting and reflect a trend that cut across different states and local government in Nigeria. It was discovered that many parents would prefer their adolescent daughter to complete their education rather than get married or become pregnant. However, about 14.9% individuals felt that teenage pregnancy had some advantages while others about 9.5% individuals felt that it should be discouraged, because it entails too many problems. The above views about teenage pregnancy are relevant to the roles parents are expected to play in matters of pregnancy. Although, according to Brigg�s findings, the revealed that most parents about 62.2% suspected their daughters of becoming sexually active and they still ignore it. 79.1% of parents are of the opinion that sexual active adolescent girls should not use contraceptives. Some of the reasons cited include: � Contraceptive kills � It promotes sexual promiscuity � They are concerned over fecundity In terms of parental roles, some teenagers lack adequate love, care and attention from their parents, who may not be concerned about the social and emotional aspect of their child. This in turn makes it difficult for the child to open up to the various activities encountered in their social life. The issues of teenage pregnancy seem to point to sexuality education as a major factor in reducing the incidence. The earlier parents stopped shying away from discussing sexual matters with their children, showing adequate love, care and attention to their children and provide adequate upbringing for a better society. Mass Media With the increasing media coverage of television programming computers with influential trends from internets, magazines, movies, pictorials, radio, mobile phones and even in commercials. A study conducted in 2006 found that adolescents who were more exposed to sexuality in the media were also more likely to engage in sexual activity themselves. According to Time, teens exposed to the most sexual content on TV are twice as likely as teens watching less of this material to become pregnant before reach age 26. An example is the popular MTV�s hit reality show �Teens mom and 16 and pregnant� there appears to be an increased and widespread controversy over the benefits or detriments cast upon teenage audiences viewing this type of pornography. The debate has grown up in popularity, creating interesting viewpoints from religious leaders, government officials and their family members affected by teenage pregnancy. The question is that, are the known and unknown effects of teenage pregnancy with its documented and far-reaching family, socio-economic and psychological effects, fully understood and taken into consideration by media producers such as MTV? The influence of pornography is great, this implies the display of sexy pictures on newspapers, magazines, video and stage shows for the purpose of sexual stimulation or to make money. This act reduces sex to the animalistic level. This type of exhibition encourages teenage girls and boys to try out what they have seen or heard and the results are the pregnancies and births for which the society and the young teenage are unprepared for. When most people view the eye-opening statistics regarding teenage pregnancy, a variety of emotional responses are produced such as feelings of shock, disbelief, joy, empathy, anger, shame, happiness and guilt and possibly even pre-conceived and stirred up biases can be triggered. In today�s media, television programmes, internet, magazines, pictorials, musical videos and even commercial are basically centered on love and sex, thereby enhancing sexual behavior occurring among adolescent in a bid of experiment what have been seen, read or practiced through the media (Fredrick, 1972). Therefore, movies should be restrained with more rigid viewer ratings, warning labels and theater ID checks, all these actions will help reducing young viewers being exposed sexually.

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effects of cultural beliefs on teenage pregnancy

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good health practices: effects of cultural beliefs on teenage pregnancy

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Effects Of Cultural Beliefs On Teenage Pregnancy

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Effects Of Cultural Beliefs On Teenage Pregnacy In some traditional societies, teenage pregnancy is accepted and even wished for by the society and it is part and parcel of the traditional normative programme. Therefore, in traditional Africa, fertility during adolescence is not a social problem.

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Children's Rights | Save the Children UK

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Every child has rights, no matter who or where they are. But children's rights are still violated. Find out what we're doing to stop this.

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This book provides an account of the emergence, nature and impact of armed youth gangs in an East London Borough over the last decade. It describes the challenges these armed young men and women pose to their communities, those charged with preventing crime and those struggling to vouchsafe 'community safety'.

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More than 100 people have contacted the Guardian with allegations of child sexual abuse and other mistreatment in Jehovah's Witness communities across the UK.

Former and current members, including 41 alleged victims of child sexual abuse, described a culture of cover-ups and lies, with senior members of the organisation, known as elders, discouraging victims from coming forward for fear of bringing "reproach on Jehovah" and being exiled from the congregation and their families.

A Guardian investigation also heard from 48 people who experienced other forms of abuse, including physical violence when they were children, and 35 who witnessed or heard about others who were victims of child grooming and abuse.

The stories told to the Guardian ranged from events decades ago to more recent, and many of those who came forward have now contacted the police.

They told the Guardian about:

An organisation that polices itself and teaches members to avoid interaction with outside authorities.

A rule set by the main governing body of the religion that means for child sexual abuse to be taken seriously there must be two witnesses to it.

Alleged child sex abuse victims claiming they were forced to recount allegations in front of their abuser.

Young girls who engage in sexual activity before marriage being forced to describe it in detail in front of male elders.

A solicitor representing some of the alleged victims said she believed there were thousands of complainants in the UK and that the people who have contacted the Guardian were "just the tip of the iceberg".

One alleged victim, Rachel Evans, who has waived her right to anonymity, claimed there was a paedophile ring active in the 1970s, although details of the case cannot be divulged due to a current investigation.

"Within the Jehovah's Witnesses there is an actual silencing and also a network where if someone went to the elders and said 'there is a problem with this' and they believe you, the whole thing will be dealt with in-house. But often these people are not dealt with, they are either moved to another congregation or told to keep their head down for a few years," she said.

Another victim, who did not want to be named, said she was abused by a ministerial servant (someone with congregational responsibilities) in the organisation in the 1970s.

Profile
Who are the Jehovah's Witnesses and how do they operate?

Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a Christian religious movement. In 2017, the group reported an average global monthly membership of approximately 8.2 million people, about 137,000 of whom are in the UK.

The organisation is governed by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania corporation, which has its headquarters in New York. It is the main legal entity used worldwide to direct, administer and disseminate doctrines.

Jehovah's Witnesses base their beliefs only on the text of the Bible and ignore "mere human speculations or religious creeds". Members reject what they see as the sinful values of the secular world and maintain a degree of separation from non-believers, whom they call "worldly people".

The congregation is served by overseers, or elders. Only men can serve in these positions and they are responsible for congregational governance, pastoral work and forming judicial committees to investigate serious sins.

If a Jehovah's Witness experiences sexual abuse, they are advised to report it to the elders, who will take further action if there is a second witness to the offence or if the accused admits the abuse. The perpetrator will then be called before a judicial committee.

Someone who commits a serious sin can be "disfellowshipped". This involves being shunned by the congregation, which for most members includes their immediate family.

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"I was sexually abused many times a week from the age of three until I was 12. Congregation elders knew that when I told them, at 12, what had been happening. No steps were taken to tell the police. I had to tell three male senior figures what had happened. Imagine that? A young girl telling a bunch of men what this man did to me. I wasn't even allowed to have my mother there with me."

After she went to the police about what had happened, the person who abused her pleaded guilty and was eventually convicted. "The Jehovah's Witnesses should lose their charity status as they are not protecting children," she added. She said she had mental health issues as a result of what happened and how it was dealt with.

Jason Munro, another alleged victim of sexual abuse who waived his right to anonymity, could not give details of his case due to a current investigation but said: "I am completely horrified by the Jehovah's Witnesses ... I didn't get support and I experienced 10 years of abuse. Elders knew in my teens about the abuse but it was never a case of 'let's get this person the professional help he needs'."

When a Jehovah's Witness experiences sexual abuse they are supposed to report it to elders, who are always men, who will take further action if there is a second witness to the offence. The perpetrator will then be called before a judicial committee if they admit abuse or if there is a second witness.

"This causes further trauma to the victim and coupled with the two-witness rule, is undoubtedly the reason that so many victims have never reported it," said Kathleen Hallisey, senior solicitor in the abuse team at Bolt Burdon Kemp, who is currently acting on behalf of 15 alleged victims.

She also noted that the problem with the two-witness rule in the context of sexual abuse was that there were rarely witnesses to it, "meaning that [these] reports ... are usually dismissed".

It has been reported that the headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the UK, the Watch Tower, holds a database of abuse allegations made within the organisation but has yet to hand it over to authorities.

The Charity Commission launched an investigation in 2013 looking into the Manchester New Moston congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, concluding that it did not deal adequately with allegations of child abuse made against one of the trustees.

The commission is still running an inquiry into the main government body of the group, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain. This is examining the child safeguarding policy and procedures further.

Following the investigation into the Manchester New Moston congregation last year, the Watch Tower changed its policy so that victims are no longer required to confront their abuser face to face.

A former elder, who was asked to investigate a child abuse case in 2007, claimed he was urged not to contact the police, although it was decided that the perpetrator should not be assigned to work with children.

However, the then elder - who left in 2012 over how the case was handled - said that this rule was not followed by everyone and when he raised this as a concern he was told to back off.

"I hugely regret the fact that I wasn't able to do anything at the time and I didn't have the strength. And that lives with me," he said.

Other former Jehovah's Witnesses told how they were forced to share personal sexual experiences at a young age, after breaking rules set by the religion.

One woman, who wished to be anonymous, was called to a meeting with elders after she had sex at 15, which goes against the rule of no sex before marriage. "This meeting was three older men and me, a scared 15-year-old, who had just had sex for the first time. They had to know all the details before they chose my punishment," she said.

"I had to answer questions like, did it hurt? Where were you? Did you enjoy it? I don't think any child that age should ever be in that situation."

A former elder described how a congregation responded when a 13-year-old girl had sex. A judicial committee was called, and she was disfellowshipped and eventually asked to leave her parents' house.

The Guardian also heard from those who described strict upbringings and a culture of hierarchy which meant physical and other psychological abuse were rife and often ignored.

Stephanie, a former Jehovah's Witness, said that when she reported her own experience of domestic violence she was told by elders to do nothing.

The accused "remained in the congregation with privileges and authority. Later, when I came out to the congregation elders as gay, they sent two men to my house ... and asked me in detail about sex and masturbation," she alleged.

Operation Hydrant, a British police investigation into allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse, said that it was dealing with 45 potential victims of child abuse within a Jehovah's Witness setting. It said allegations could be made by a third party which either identifies - or does not identify - a potential victim.

Based on the Guardian's findings, the commission said its inquiry into the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain, the Jehovah's Witnesses' governing body in the UK, was continuing and it encouraged anyone affected by safeguarding in congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in England and Wales to come forward.

Hallisey said: "Given the number of Jehovah's Witnesses in the UK, and what we know about the pervasiveness of abuse in the organisation, there are likely to be hundreds and probably thousands more victims. This is truly just the tip of the iceberg."

She said the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse should investigate. "It is absolutely critical that IICSA investigates the Jehovah's Witnesses ... This is actually a public safety issue. The person knocking on your door or handing you literature in the street could be an accused or even admitted paedophile," she said.

An IICSA spokesperson said that while it was currently delivering its existing programme, the panel would "consider calls for a Jehovah's Witnesses-specific investigation carefully" as work progressed.

In a statement, the Jehovah's Witnesses said that safeguarding children was of the utmost importance. They said that a victim and their family had the right to report allegations of child abuse to the police, and that the principle of sufficient evidence was a scriptural rule not related to reporting an allegation of crime to the authorities. "Elders treat victims of child abuse with compassion, understanding, and kindness. Elders will conduct a scriptural investigation of every allegation of child sexual abuse," they said.
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Jehovah's Witnesses accused of silencing victims of child abuse

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More than 100 people have contacted the Guardian with allegations of child sexual abuse and other mistreatment in Jehovah's Witness communities across the UK. Former and current members, including 41 alleged victims of child sexual abuse, described a culture of cover-ups and lies, with senior members of the organisation, known as elders, discouraging victims from coming forward for fear of bringing "reproach on Jehovah" and being exiled from the congregation and their families.

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Thousands of children should be surveyed to build a true picture of sexual exploitation, experts have said.

The government says it does not know how many girls have been groomed in the wake of questions about sexual exploitation in Telford.

But the Centre of Expertise for Child Sexual Abuse is designing a survey of children to run every 10 years to assess the scale of the problem.

Authorities raised 18,800 concerns of children at risk in 2016-17.

This was equivalent to 51 every day.

And there were 29,600 assessments of children by social services in England about other sexual abuse because of concerns raised by teachers, social workers and health services.

That works out at 16 assessments of whether children were at risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and 25 for sexual abuse for every 10,000 under 18s.

The Centre of Expertise for Child Sexual Abuse, which is working with the government to prevent and tackle abuse, said the data was only a "slice" of the true picture.

The centre, funded by the Home Office and led by charity Barnardo's, has recommended a national prevalence survey be carried out every 10 years.

It is now working with the government, academics and survey experts to design it.

"We know that children don't always recognise that they are being abused and this means that surveys that are framed as abuse or crime often hide this abuse," policy adviser Lisa McCrindle told the BBC.

"We want to capture sexual experiences in childhood and young adulthood so we are likely to include young people in secondary school and up to early twenties."

It is not yet known how much the survey would cost.

The centre warns the existing figures are only the assessments made because someone spotted something that concerned them enough to flag up the child to social services.

There is also no indication of how many children were assessed more than once over the course of the year.

Experts say there is nothing they can rely on to answer the question of prevalence because so many children do not come forward to tell the authorities they are being abused.

Ms McCrindle said: "Administrative data does not provide an understanding of the scale of abuse, it only tells us what services are doing. The data tells us how many assessments have been made; an individual child could be assessed multiple times so it doesn't tell us how many individual children have been assessed."

She said differences in the way social services record concerns means it is "impossible" to say which area has the highest rate of CSE.

Some authorities are recording CSE concerns whenever there is an online element to the potential abuse. Others will only class it as exploitation if there is an element of "exchange", such as the child being offered payment or another incentive.

Scale of abuse

A Sunday Mirror investigation suggested up to 1,000 girls in Telford may have been victims of grooming gangs since the 1980s. However West Mercia Police Supt Tom Harding "significantly disputed" the figures.

Lucy Allan, the Conservative MP for Telford, asked ministers to provide an estimate of the number of girls groomed for sexual exploitation and the number of perpetrators.

Minister for women Victoria Atkins responded: "The Government does not currently hold such figures. We are working to build the national picture of the nature and scale of this sort of abuse.

"We have introduced new requirements for the police to record information relating to these offences which, along with the establishment of a new national Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, will help us to build a more informed picture of the scale of these crimes and the best ways to tackle and prevent them in the future."

The Home Office told the BBC the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse was working with "relevant experts to develop a more detailed proposal for the form this might take".

A government spokeswoman said: "This government is working to tackle child sexual exploitation, declaring it a national threat and making a significant investment to protect children, support victims, and bring perpetrators to justice.

"Despite challenges in building a national picture of child sexual exploitation, this government is taking action to change our response to this terrible crime, including offering more support to vulnerable people giving evidence.

"The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse is also currently piloting an approach to improve the quality and consistency of data relating to child sexual abuse and exploitation. The government has also revised the definition of CSE in legal guidance, and introduced a new requirement on police forces to flag CSE offending, to build a clearer national picture of the problem."

How to report abuse

If you are worried that a child or young person is at risk or is being abused you can contact the children's social care team at their local council. You can choose not to give your details.

You can report it online to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection command (CEOP).

Or you can call the NSPCC 24-hour helpline on 0808 800 5000 for expert advice and support.

If a child is at immediate risk call 999, or call the police on 101 if you think a crime has been committed.

Children and young people can call Childline free on 0800 1111 where trained counsellors are available 24 hours a day, every day.

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Child abuse and grooming survey 'needed'

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Thousands of children should be surveyed to build a true picture of sexual exploitation, experts have said. The government says it does not know how many girls have been groomed in the wake of questions about sexual exploitation in Telford.

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Adolescents move in packs. The stage in life when they are meant to be exploring possible identities as individuals, able to question and rebel against the truths of their upbringing, is also a time of passionate conformism, when the opinions of a peer group matter more than anything else. This can appear frightening to the outside world, and sometimes it is frightening to the young people trapped within it, too. Mobs of jeering overgrown adolescents, convinced of their own superiority, such as the Bullingdon Club, are pretty unpleasant, but a group of aggressive young people who are haunted by a belief in their inferiority can be worse. In some parts of our larger cities, these groups are known as gangs, but this is a name that now confuses more than it illuminates.

To see all friendship groups of young men as "gangs" is damaging both when the authorities do it, and when the boys involved succumb to the glamorous temptation to see themselves that way. For the authorities, it blurs the very important distinction between criminal gangs, which do of course exist, and ordinary friendship groups, who may or may not be involved in various forms of illegal activity. The crucial difference is that a proper criminal gang has a collective purpose. Its members are out to steal or deal or fight for the good of the group as well as of themselves. This is very different from a loose social network of young people who may commit crimes as individuals, whether they are fighting, taking drugs, or carrying knives. The two pose quite different problems for the police and for civil society and must be dealt with in quite different ways.

The confusion of the two is still more damaging to the young people involved. It gives them a collective identity at a time when they are looking for one, but it is not the identity they want or need. To be a "gangster" reinforces all that is most dangerous and inadequate about their own behaviour. This may be attractive to young men who want respect but who fear they are unworthy of it. It glamorises and normalises behaviour that is much worse than anything they might be seriously tempted towards without it. And it cuts them off still further from the society around them. It has always been part of the mythology of the gangster that, like the Krays, "they only hurt their own". So pathologising young groups of friends as gangsters makes it seem that both their crimes and the victims' suffering don't really matter. But they do. To stop this, and to stop this spreading, we should mind our language. That would be a fitting memorial for Myron Yarde, stabbed in south London this month, and a more helpful reaction to similar deaths that seem all too likely to continue.
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The Guardian view on youth crime: not a gangster problem | Editorial

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Adolescents move in packs. The stage in life when they are meant to be exploring possible identities as individuals, able to question and rebel against the truths of their upbringing, is also a time of passionate conformism, when the opinions of a peer group matter more than anything else.

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World Facts
Teenage marriages are a larger factor than unwanted conceptions in many of the countries with the most teen pregnancies.

Pregnancy rates among teens worldwide are inclusive of teenage girls who become pregnant before reaching the age of 20, whether they are single or married. Due to many of the potential negative outcomes from it, teen pregnancy is seen as a major societal issue in the majority of countries worldwide today. Still, developing countries and industrialized countries have differing teenage pregnancy rates, largely due to the situations of the mothers often involved. Teen pregnancy that occurs in North America and Western Europe tends to involve unmarried women. The majority of teen pregnancy in developing countries, however, occur in married teenage girls.

The Highest Rates Found in Africa

Today, countries in Africa have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world. The country of Niger tops the list at 203.604 births per 100,000 teenage women. Going on down the line following Niger are Mali (175.4438), Angola (166.6028), Mozambique (142.5334), Guinea (141.6722), Chad (137.173), Malawi (136.972), and Cote d'Ivoire (135.464). In several of these countries, teenage marriages are the major cause of subsequent teenage pregnancies. Baby mortality rates are also typically higher in these countries, due to both insufficient medical infrastructure and increased risks associated with these younger women bearing children. There are also the added burdens of malnutrition, famine, war and pestilence that are rampant across several countries making the top of this list. War in particular adds to teenage pregnancy rates due to the sad reality of the invading soldiers who rape local women.

Cultural Views on Abortion

Although today more and more countries have liberal abortion laws, outcomes differ because of access and attitudes. In Sweden, 70% of teenage pregnancies are aborted while only 26% end the same way in the United States. Another finding about abortion is that the higher the incidence of teen pregnancies in a country, the lower the abortion rates are compared to live birth. Abortion is almost unheard of in many of the countries at the top of this list.

The Effect of Teen Pregnancies

The children of teenage mothers are also disadvantaged themselves in a number of ways. First of all, infant mortality rates are higher among teenage mothers' children. Due to an increased risk of developmental problems, these children often also have lessened motor and language skills in childhood than do their age-matched counterparts birthed by older mothers. For this reason, teenage pregnancy should be seen as a problem in need of addressing and action in developing nations and the developed world alike to secure better futures for children across the globe.

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World Facts Teenage marriages are a larger factor than unwanted conceptions in many of the countries with the most teen pregnancies. Pregnancy rates among teens worldwide are inclusive of teenage girls who become pregnant before reaching the age of 20, whether they are single or married.

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Harold Wilson

Labour, 1964 - 1970

In 1964, 'Good old Mr Wilson' - an avuncular, pipe-smoking figure - came to power amid much excitement and optimism. He had promised a 'new Britain' forged in 'the white heat of a second industrial revolution'. In reality, his administration never escaped from a cycle of economic crises, vainly battling against further devaluations of the pound. Wilson won a second general election in 1966 (the year England lifted the football World Cup) making him the first Labour PM to serve consecutive terms. In 1967, the government failed in its application for membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) and was also finally forced to devalue sterling. The electorate became disillusioned with Wilson, who lost narrowly to the Conservatives in the 1970 election.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Conservative, 1963 - 1964

In 1963, a change in the law allowed hereditary peers to disclaim (or 'drop') their titles, which in turn meant they were able to become members of parliament (MPs). The only peer ever to do so and become prime minister was Douglas-Home, formerly the 14th Earl of Home, who assumed the office when Harold Macmillan retired due to ill health. He was the first prime minister in the post-war period not to win his own mandate (be elected or re-elected by popular vote).

Stanley Baldwin, Conservative, 1923

During his very brief first term as prime minister, Stanley Baldwin bumped into an old school friend on a train. Asked what he was doing these days, Baldwin replied: 'I am the prime minister.' Having come to power following Andrew Bonar Law's resignation, he called an election in the hope of gaining his own mandate (election by popular vote), but lost.

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Liberal, 1905 - 1908

Arthur James Balfour, Conservative, 1902 - 1905

The nephew of the Marquess of Salisbury, Balfour had none of his uncle's political skills despite a long period of mentoring. He was instead something of a philosopher, publishing several weighty books, including 'A Defence of Philosophic Doubt', 'The Foundations of Belief', and 'Theism and Humanism'. Following a cabinet split Balfour resigned, gambling that the Liberals would be unable to form a government and that he would be returned to power. He was wrong.

Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative, 1886 - 1892

Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative, 1885 - 1886

Earl Russell, Whig, 1865 - 1866

Viscount Palmerston, Liberal, 1859 - 1865

Viscount Palmerston, Liberal , 1855 - 1858

Earl of Derby, Conservative, 1852

Viscount Melbourne, Whig, 1835 - 1841

Duke of Wellington, Tory, 1834

Viscount Goderich, Tory, 1827 - 1828

George Canning, Tory, 1827

Canning finally became prime minister after a long career in politics, only to die of pneumonia 119 days later. He had famously fought a duel in 1809 with his bitterest political rival, Lord Castlereagh, and was shot in the thigh. Castlereagh committed suicide with a penknife in 1822, after becoming depressed about his falling popularity.

Duke of Portland, Tory, 1807 - 1809

Lord Grenville, Whig, 1806 - 1807

Duke of Portland, Tory, 1783

Earl Shelburne, Whig, 1782 - 1783

Marquess of Rockingham, Whig, 1782

Marquess of Rockingham, Whig, 1765 - 1766

George Grenville, Whig, 1763 - 1765

Grenville is one of the few prime ministers to have been sacked by the monarch. He was fired after a row with George III over who should rule in his place if his mental health continued to deteriorate.

Duke of Newcastle, Whig, 1757 - 1762

Newcastle healed his rift with Pitt 'the Elder' by inviting him to serve in his government as secretary of state. Effectively a power-sharing coalition of two powerful men, the relationship gave birth to the British Empire. Their government eventually fell as a result of the new king, George III's hostility to Pitt, who had sought to restrict the influence of the monarch in political matters.

Duke of Devonshire, Whig, 1756-1757

Duke of Newcastle, Whig, 1754 - 1756

Newcastle became PM after his brother, Henry Pelham, died in office. It is the only instance of two brothers serving as prime minister. Newcastle enraged Pitt 'the Elder' by refusing to promote him in the new government, then compounded the insult by sacking him.

Henry Pelham, Whig, 1743 - 1754

Earl of Wilmington, Whig, 1742 - 1743

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Labour, 1964 - 1970 In 1964, 'Good old Mr Wilson' - an avuncular, pipe-smoking figure - came to power amid much excitement and optimism. He had promised a 'new Britain' forged in 'the white heat of a second industrial revolution'. In reality, his administration never escaped from a cycle of economic crises, vainly battling against further devaluations of the pound.

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Teenage pregnancies have fallen to their lowest level since records began 45 years ago while the number of women having babies over 40 has risen dramatically, according to the latest official statistics.The decline in under-18s conceiving is due to a combination of better sex education, girls’ growing educational ambitions and a rising sense of stigma about teenage motherhood, according to the Office for National Statistics

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Teenage pregnancies have fallen to their lowest level since records began 45 years ago while the number of women having babies over 40 has risen dramatically, according to the latest official statistics.The decline in under-18s conceiving is due to a combination of better sex education, girls’ growing educational ambitions and a rising sense of stigma about teenage motherhood, according to the Office for National Statistics

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How the UK halved its teenage pregnancy rate

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Political support at all levels, long-term commitment and changes to social norms behind success of public health strategy

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Youth Justice is a key area of the current governments criminal justice policy in England and Wales. It has been the subject of an inordinate amount of recent legislation seeking to enhance the criminal courts powers to punish and prevent offending and re-offending by young people.

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On Thursday 30 November from 2:30am - 7:30am, you won't be able to contact Childline whilst we do some important maintenance to our systems. This means that 1-2-1 chats, calling and messages to Childline will be unavailable. You'll still be able to use the Childline website for advice and information.

If you're in danger or it's an emergency, you should always call 999

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Get help and advice about a wide range of issues, call us on 0800 1111, talk to a counsellor online, send Childline an email or post on the message boards.

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Where do I go from here?

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Child abuse facts

Child abuse is when a caregiver either fails to provide appropriate care (neglect), purposefully inflicts harm, or harms a child while disciplining him or her.

Child abuse is when a caregiver either fails to provide appropriate care (neglect), purposefully inflicts harm, or harms a child while disciplining him or her.

Survivors of child maltreatment are at greater risk for physical, emotional, work, and relationship problems throughout childhood and into adulthood.

Common forms of child abuse include neglect, physical assault, emotional abuse, and sexual assault.

Child abuse risk factors include issues that involve the victim, family, perpetrator, and community.

Victims of child abuse often experience stress in reaction to the abuse as well as symptoms related to the kind of abuse they endured.

Child abuse symptoms and signs vary according to the child's developmental stage and age.

The treatment for child abuse involves first securing the safety of the child from further abuse and addressing any physical injuries from which the child may be suffering. Health care professionals then assess and address the emotional needs of the child.

There are many ways to prevent child abuse, and every state in the U.S. has child-abuse-reporting hotlines.

What is child abuse?

Child abuse is any injury intentionally inflicted on a child by a caregiver or during discipline. While the caregiver is usually an adult, most often the mother of the child, it can also include teenagers who are in the caregiving role, like a babysitter or a camp counselor. It is important to understand that child abuse must involve injury, whether physical or emotional, visible or not immediately visible. So while most child care professionals (for example, psychiatrists, psychologists, pediatricians, and teachers) do not recommend the use of corporal punishment due to the risk of emotional damage and accidental physical injury, spanking a child does not automatically constitute child abuse unless the child sustains some kind of injury.

Many children worldwide suffer abuse every year, affecting all educational and socioeconomic levels, ethnicities, cultures, and religions. The most common form of child abuse in the United States is being left at home alone without adult supervision, also called supervision neglect. All forms of neglect account for about 75% of the child-abuse reports made to child welfare authorities. Other common forms of child abuse include physical assault, physical neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual assault that involves physical contact.

Child abuse has far-reaching negative effects on its victims and on society. Survivors of child maltreatment are at greater risk for physical, emotional, work, and relationship problems throughout childhood and into adulthood.

What are the different types of child abuse?

The most common types of child maltreatment are neglect, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse:

Neglect is the failure of the child's caretaker to provide adequate care for the child. Examples of this form of child maltreatment include a lack of supplying adequate food, shelter, season-appropriate clothing, supervision, medical or mental health care, or a lack of providing appropriate emotional comfort. Supervision neglect is the most common form of child neglect.

Physical abuse involves a caretaker inflicting physical injury on a child through assault. That includes corporal punishment that results in physical injuries, like bruises, scratches, welts, or broken bones.

Emotional abuse involves statements by a caretaker that can injure a child's sense of self-esteem. Examples of emotional abuse include calling the child negative names, cursing at, or otherwise insulting the child.

Sexual abuse involves exposing the child to inappropriate sexual content, behavior, or contact. That can include allowing the child to see pornography or sexual acts or a caretaker having sexual contact with the child.

Neglect, physical, and sexual abuse are the types of child abuse that usually result in reporting to and intervention by the authorities.

What are risk factors for child abuse?

The risk factors for child abuse include issues that pertain to the victim, perpetrator, family, and community situations. Children under 4 years of age and those with special physical, developmental, or mental health needs are at higher risk for being victims of maltreatment. Younger caregivers who have had child abuse, mental health, or drug problems in their family of origin are more at risk for abusing children. Also, adults who have trouble understanding the needs of children and appropriate parenting skills, as well as those who are single parents, of low socioeconomic status, or have transient other adult caregivers (like the parent's friend, boyfriend, or girlfriend) in the home are also more at risk of becoming child abusers.

Family risk factors for child maltreatment include social isolation, fragmentation, or parents under stress, engaging in domestic violence, or the presence of poor parent-child relationships. Community issues that increase the likelihood that child abuse occurs include low community socioeconomic status, high unemployment rates, high incidence of community violence, high availability of alcohol or other drugs (for example, alcohol through liquor stores or bars), and poor community social connections.

SLIDESHOW
See Slideshow

What are symptoms and signs of child abuse?

Children who are victims of abuse often experience symptoms of stress in reaction to the abuse, in addition to symptoms that are specific to the kind of abuse they have suffered. The signs and symptoms of abuse often vary according to the age and developmental stage of the child. It is also important to understand that victims of child abuse suffer abuse in more than one way, so the child may demonstrate symptoms consistent with more than one kind of maltreatment. Examples of less specific signs and symptoms of child abuse include

a tendency to either avoid, overly please, or ingratiate themselves to the abuser;

poor school performance;

irritability/quickness to anger;

crying more often and/or easily;

anxiety or panic;

frequent complaints of physical symptoms, like headaches and stomachaches;

young kids may act younger than their age or than they had previously (regress);

spending more time alone, away from friends and family;

becoming more "clingy" and more dependent on certain relationships;

expressing thoughts about hurting him or herself or others;

more risk-taking behaviors and/or showing less concern for their own safety.

Examples of risk-taking behaviors in children include unsafe play, like climbing excessively high or running in the street. More potentially specific signs and symptoms of abuse may include the following:

Neglect: The child may lose weight or fail to gain weight appropriately for their age. Their energy level and ability to learn will likely decrease. They may become withdrawn and show physical signs of malnutrition, like dry skin or hair or develop thinning hair.

Physical abuse: A child who is the victim of physical abuse may have repeated physical injuries and emergency room or other doctor's visits with or without adequate explanation. They may claim to be accident prone or provide other stories about how they sustained injuries and may tend to wear excessive clothing to cover injuries or otherwise engage in secrecy in an attempt to protect the abuser from intervention by child welfare authorities and law enforcement.

Emotional abuse: Emotionally abused children may make negative statements about themselves or others that mimic the abuser, like calling his or herself names or otherwise exhibiting pessimism or low self-esteem.

Sexual abuse: A sexually abused child may exhibit sexual knowledge or behaviors that are much older than is appropriate for their age. They may also exhibit inappropriately sexual behavior, resulting in their engaging in masturbating excessively or in front of others, as well as participating in inappropriate sexual play with children. They may also respond opposite to that by avoiding bathing, toileting, examination by a professional, or otherwise having to take off their clothes. Medically, sexually abused children may develop genital injuries or sexually transmitted diseases.

How do physicians diagnose child abuse?

Many health care professionals may help make the diagnosis of child abuse, including licensed mental health therapists, pediatricians, other primary care providers, specialists whom you see for a medical condition, emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, physician assistants, and social workers. One of these professionals will likely perform or refer for an extensive medical interview and physical examination as part of establishing the diagnosis. Child abuse may be associated with a number of other medical conditions, so health care providers often perform routine laboratory tests during the initial evaluation to rule out other causes of symptoms. Occasionally, an X-ray, scan, or other imaging study may be needed, particularly if physical abuse is suspected. As part of this examination, the sufferer may be asked a series of questions from a standardized questionnaire or self-test to help assess the occurrence of child abuse. Medical professionals will conduct a thorough exploration for any history or presence of mental health symptoms such that child maltreatment can be distinguished from other sources of emotional problems.

What is the treatment for child abuse?

The treatment for child abuse involves first securing the safety of the child from further abuse and addressing any physical injuries from which the child may be suffering. As these interventions are occurring, child-welfare services work with law enforcement in assessing the safety of the child in the home, whether or not the child should be removed from that home and the potential need for further legal involvement because of the abuse allegations. When it is determined that sexual abuse has occurred, the perpetrator of the abuse is usually required to have their name included on a sexual offenders' registry, which will prevent them from working in settings that involve children and may impose legal penalties if the offender has any contact with people under 18 years of age.

Medical interventions may involve addressing a variety of issues, like treating broken bones, concussion, or other head injury associated with physical abuse, genital injuries, or sexually transmitted disease that may result from sexual abuse.

Addressing the emotional impact of child abuse on the victim is an important part of treatment of child maltreatment. A mental health professional usually assesses the mental health of the child, either through screening questions or tests by the pediatrician or through a full mental health assessment. If it is determined that the child is suffering from a mental health condition, it will be treated through individual or group therapy, as well as medication treatment when appropriate.

Family oriented interventions for child abuse may involve providing the caretaker with classes on anger management to help them develop healthy ways to manage their anger, parenting classes as a means of improving their knowledge and implementation of parenting approaches that are appropriate for the child's age, developmental level, medical, mental, and emotional needs. Family interventions may also involve the use of a parent mentor to provide the caretaker with a role model from whom they can learn appropriate parenting skills. Family therapy involves family members meeting with a therapist, which helps to process and resolve family issues. If the parent is found to be suffering from a specific mental health condition, that should be treated accordingly.

What are the complications and prognosis of child abuse?

Children subjected to maltreatment are at risk for a variety of physical and emotional problems, often depending on their age. Physically, children can suffer from brain injury, including mental retardation, concussions, seizures, and death. Behaviorally and emotionally, children may develop a myriad of problems, including depression, anxiety, trouble bonding with others, and issues with controlling their anger.

Adults who were the victims of child abuse are at higher risk for a variety of emotional and physical problems, as well as for economic problems. The most common physical problems are neurological and musculoskeletal problems, followed by respiratory, heart, and gastrointestinal ailments. Compared to adults with no history of child-abuse victimization, those abused as children are at risk for achieving lower levels of education, employment, income, and assets. Those risks are apparently even greater for women compared to men. Adult survivors of abuse are also at higher risk of incarceration and for family violence occurring in their own homes.

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Is it possible to prevent child abuse?

There are primary, secondary, and tertiary ways of preventing child abuse. Primary intervention involves awareness training for professionals who work with children, policy makers for children's issues, and for the public. Secondary prevention programs work to alleviate the risk factors that make vulnerable children at risk for abuse. Tertiary prevention programs work with families in which abuse has already occurred in an attempt to decrease the effects of the abuse and to prevent it from occurring again.

Attempts at secondary and tertiary prevention of child abuse tend to address the risk factors and strengthen protective factors. Such programs often use approaches that strengthen parenting skills and supports, as well as enhance the ability for the caretaker to provide for the needs of the child. The inverse of most risk factors, protective factors for child abuse include having the involvement of supportive family and community, strengthening family and peer relationships, developing healthy coping skills, and improving individual emotional regulation.

What should people do if they suspect that a child is being abused?

If it is suspected that a child is being abused, laws in most of the United States require that a professional that is in the role of caring for the child (for example, a teacher, doctor, or daycare provider) make a formal report of the abuse to child-welfare authorities in the state in which it is suspected to have occurred. Those professionals are often called mandated reporters. Both for those professionals and for people who are not mandated reporters, child-abuse reporting hotlines are available in every state in the United States.

From

Medically Reviewed on 5/14/2021

Al Odhayani, A., W.J. Watson, and L. Watson. "Behavioural consequences of child abuse." Canadian Family Physician 59.8 Aug. 2013: 831-836.

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 2013.

American Psychiatric Association's Children, Youth and Families Office. "Understanding and preventing child abuse and neglect." (2013) <http://www.apa.org/pi/cyf>.

Fang, X., D.S. Brown, C. Florence, and J. Mercy. "The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States and implications for prevention." Child Abuse and Neglect Jan. 2012.

Healy, M. "Child neglect accounts for 75% of reported abuse cases." USA Today Sept. 2013.

United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Child Abuse and Neglect: Risk and Protective Factors." April 2018.

Urosevich, K. "It takes a Hui to raise a child: a case for peer-to-peer support for child abuse prevention." Hawaii Journal of Medicine and Public Health 72.10 Oct. 2013: 365-368.

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Child Abuse and Neglect: Signs, Risks, Treatment & Prevention

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Child abuse facts Child abuse is when a caregiver either fails to provide appropriate care (neglect), purposefully inflicts harm, or harms a child while disciplining him or her. Child abuse is when a caregiver either fails to provide appropriate care (neglect), purposefully inflicts harm, or harms a child while disciplining him or her.

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Austerity cuts may have contributed to lower rates of teenage pregnancy in England. It may seem a surprising result, but that is what our analysis of cuts by local authorities to teenage pregnancy programmes has concluded.

Between 2007 and 2015, the under-18 conception rate in England almost halved. Some commentators, such as The Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, have credited this decline to the 1999 Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. Running until 2010, the strategy saw hundreds of millions of pounds distributed to local authorities with the aim of expanding access to birth control and sex and relationships education.

These services have been a significant victim of recent government cuts, with spending falling by over 70% since 2008. This has led politicians and organisations working in the field to argue that decreases to conception rates would be put at risk. We tested this proposition in our paper, published in the Journal of Health Economics. Contrary to expectations, we found that, if anything, cuts have led to fewer teen pregnancies.

Our analysis compares changes in teenage pregnancy rates with changes in annual expenditure on teenage pregnancy services for 149 English local authorities between 2008 and 2014. The extent and timing of cuts varied significantly across areas. This meant we were able to test whether areas that reduced spending the most experienced smaller declines in pregnancy.

To our surprise, we found the opposite. Authorities making bigger cuts saw relatively larger decreases in both birth and abortion rates among teenagers. The effect was not huge - a 10% reduction in expenditure was associated with a decrease of just 0.25% in the under-18 conception rate - but it was strongly significant.

Correlation does not necessarily mean causation. It may be that areas that implemented the biggest cuts were those where conception rates would have gone down anyway. Although we cannot completely rule out this possibility, the results held up well to a battery of statistical tests and controls for other factors that might explain the correlation, such as education, poverty and the local political party in control.

Our results stand in contrast to those in a paper by Kaye Wellings and colleagues, recently published in the Lancet. They found that areas that received more funding under the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy experienced bigger reductions in under-18 conceptions.

However, their research is limited by the fact that funding was closely related to initial conception rates. Areas where conception rates were highest have seen the biggest falls. But the researchers were unable to distinguish the effect of funding from that of broader trends in teenage behaviour, which may have affected areas with higher starting conception rates the most. By focusing instead on changes in both expenditure and pregnancy rates, we are able to make this distinction.

The Akerlof explanation

How can we explain our findings? Many years ago, Nobel prize-winning economist, George Akerlof, showed how easier access to contraception could lead to an increase in risky sexual behaviour, which could ultimately increase, rather than decrease, unplanned pregnancies.

Yan Chi Vinci Chow/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Policymakers have ignored Akerlof's argument to their cost. A review of one of the most comprehensive teenage pregnancy programmes in England found that young women on the scheme were more likely to report pregnancy than those in a control group. Research in both the UK and the US has found that easier access to emergency birth control has not reduced teenage pregnancy or abortions, but has led to increases in sexually transmitted infections.

Policymakers need to use some caution when interpreting our results. We find that cuts to teenage pregnancy services, to date, have not increased conceptions. If the least effective projects have been cut first, it may be that further cuts to services would have different effects. Perhaps there will also be long-term consequences that we have not yet been able to observe. Though economic theory and evidence suggest reduced access to contraceptives will have worse effects in the short term.

Most importantly, it may not be possible to generalise the finding that cuts in public expenditure can be achieved without negative consequences. For example, Oxford University's Rachel Loopstra and colleagues recently concluded that cuts to local authority spending on housing services and social care have contributed to increases in homelessness and in old-age mortality rates.

This leaves the question: why have teenage mothers been disappearing so quickly? One factor brought up in our research, and in previous research, is improvements in educational attainment - something which tends to increase aspiration and make early pregnancy less attractive.

Another, more speculative, explanation is the rise of " generation sensible" (possibly abetted by the growth of social media and lower childhood exposure to lead in petrol). Many countries, including the US, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, have seen decreases in teenage pregnancy similar to the UK. Teenagers in these countries now smoke and drink less, take fewer drugs, and are less likely to commit crimes. Sex may be another risky activity they are turning away from.

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Spending cuts may have contributed to falling teenage pregnancy rates

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Austerity cuts may have contributed to lower rates of teenage pregnancy in England. It may seem a surprising result, but that is what our analysis of cuts by local authorities to teenage pregnancy programmes has concluded. Between 2007 and 2015, the under-18 conception rate in England almost halved.

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We've got information and advice on different types of abuse, how to spot the signs and what you can do to help keep children safe.

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Building upon the success of the first edition, this second - and substantially revised - edition of Youth Crime and Justice comprises a range of cutting-edge contributions from leading national and international researchers.

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The number of teenage girls getting pregnant in England and Wales is continuing to fall, figures show.

There were about 23 conceptions per 1,000 15 to 17-year-old girls in 2014, compared to a high of 55 in 1971, the Office of National Statistics said.

That means that a target, set in 1998 by the then Labour government, to halve teen pregnancies by 2010 has finally been met, six years late.

Alison Hadley, who led the government's strategy, warned the job was not over.

Ms Hadley, from the University of Bedfordshire, said it was "an extraordinary achievement", given that many thought the goal was unattainable and high rates were "an intractable part of English life".

Easy-to-use contraceptive

Education programmes and easier access to contraception played a part in bringing down rates, even in deprived areas. But she added: "Despite the big reduction, the job is not done.

"England continues to lag behind comparable western European countries, teenagers continues to be at greatest risk of unplanned pregnancy and outcomes for some young parents and their children remain disproportionately poor," she said.

She highlighted the differences between regions, with girls in the north east of England more likely to get pregnant than those living in the South East and South West.

"It is vital to keep a focus on teenage pregnancy to sustain the progress made and narrow inequalities," she said.

"Universal, high quality sex and relationships education, well-publicised, easy-to-use contraceptive and sexual health services, a youth-friendly workforce and good support for young parents, all need to be in place so successive generations of young people have the knowledge, skills and confidence to make choices.

"Disinvestment now risks an upturn in the rates," she added.

Areas with highest conception rates among under-18s in England and Wales

Clare Murphy, from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said shifts in teenage behaviour may also be factors in the falling number of pregnancies, together with better access to contraception and sex education.

"The plummeting level of teenage drinking, for example, may be reducing the likelihood of unprotected sex, and teenagers are also increasingly socialising online, limiting the opportunities for sexual activity," she said.

The ONS research also found:

* The estimated number of conceptions to girls under 18 fell to 22,653 in 2014 compared with 24,306 in 2013, a decrease of 6.8%

* An estimated 4,160 girls under 16 got pregnant in 2014, compared with 4,648 in 2013, a fall of 10%

* There were some 871,038 conceptions to women of all ages in 2014, compared with 872,849 in 2013, a slight decrease of 0.2%

* Conception rates in 2014 increased for women aged 25 and over, and decreased for women under 25

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The number of teenage girls getting pregnant in England and Wales is continuing to fall, figures show. There were about 23 conceptions per 1,000 15 to 17-year-old girls in 2014, compared to a high of 55 in 1971, the Office of National Statistics said.

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For more than two years he has been a one-boy crimewave the authorities have been powerless to stop because he was too young for jail.

His 'career' so far includes a high-speed chase in an Audi TT, which he managed to take despite being barely able to see over the steering wheel, and even allegedly pulling a knife on his own mother.

But the spree came to an end yesterday - temporarily at least - when a magistrate was finally able to send the boy to a detention centre because he had reached the grand old age of 12.

The cannabis user - who has assaulted police officers and allegedly attacked his uncle with a chain saw - was arrested more than 60 times and has 19 convictions for more than 30 known offences.

But at each court appearance the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was always freed to commit more crimes.

The authorities tried to control the youth by moving him from his home town of Croydon, South London, to a care home in Essex. However, he assaulted two social workers and went on a joyride in a powerful Audi sports car within days of arriving.

On the boy's 12th birthday at Witham Magistrates' Court yesterday, Ian Fuller sentenced him to ten months in detention.

He said: 'You have many convictions for violence. You have breached many court orders in the past. Many offences have been committed while on bail. We have no problem sending you into custody.'

Law and order officials agree he is one of the the country's most prolific young criminals.

His own mother, a single parent in her 40s with three other children who says he once threatened her with a knife, said earlier this year: 'I wish the police could put him in prison. He has got to learn.'

The schoolboy's first arrest was for stealing a bike in January 2008 when he was only nine, below the age of criminal responsibility. An uncle also claims he was attacked with a chainsaw.

The convictions began in July 2008, when he admitted a house burglary, a theft and an assault on a police officer, all on the same day. He received a six-month referral order.

In the 18 months that followed, he was convicted of crimes including criminal damage, assault by beating and thefts from cars. 'Remedies' included conditional discharges, supervision orders and fines, as well as being sent to a 'secure' children's home.

At one point he was fitted with an electronic tag - although when he broke his curfew nine days later magistrates gave up and had it removed.

After being moved to the care home, he attempted to throttle a male social worker and bit a female colleague's hand. Eleven days later he took the keys of a staff member's Audi TT and sped through the town of Braintree at 50mph as police gave chase.

The boy added five offences to his tally yesterday by admitting charges including assault by beating and taking a car without consent.

The boy's defence solicitor, Peter Hamill, yesterday said his client had 'felt some kind of immunity in the past' because of the courts' inability to stop him.

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The tearaway aged 12 who's committed at least 30 crimes... including stealing an Audi TT and pulling a knife on his own mother

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For more than two years he has been a one-boy crimewave the authorities have been powerless to stop because he was too young for jail. His 'career' so far includes a high-speed chase in an Audi TT, which he managed to take despite being barely able to see over the steering wheel, and even allegedly pulling a knife on his own mother.

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Child Welfare 1872-1989 is the first comprehensive book on the history of social policy and child welfare from the 1870s to the present. It offers a full narrative of the development of social services for children, covering a range of topics including infant life protection and welfare, sexuality, child guidance, medical treatment, war time evacuation, and child poverty.

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WHO | Adolescent pregnancy: a culturally complex issue

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Adolescents aged less than 16 years face four times the risk of maternal death than women aged in their 20s, and the death rate of their neonates is about 50% higher, according to adolescent health consultant, James E Rosen, who has been conducting a research review for the department of Making Pregnancy Safer at WHO.

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Juvenile delinquency and the evolution of the British juvenile courts, c.1900-1950

Kate Bradley, University of Kent

When looking at the problem of youth crime in the early 21st century, we are confronted with a highly punitive discourse which talks of 'clamping down' on youth crime, of 'zero tolerance' of 'anti-social behaviour'. While criminologists and practitioners within youth justice alike have attacked this punitive philosophy (1), it would be wrong to see the youth court system as having always been castigatory in its tone and methods. Rather, as this piece will demonstrate, the origins of this system lie in idealistic attempts to solve social problems through tackling the deprivations of young working-class people in order to divert them from criminal ways and to encourage them to play a constructive role in society.

Concern for the welfare of the young was nothing new, as many charities, religious bodies and philanthropists had long been active in providing orphanages, schools and medical services to the children of the poor. However, the growth of this interest in the course of the 19th century accompanied increasing anxieties about Britain's position in the world. These worries were fuelled by debates about the impact of the industrial, urban environment upon British society, and whether this was stripping the nation of a healthy, morally robust workforce. These fears were heightened by the poor physical state of conscripts to the Boer Wars at the turn of the century, which in turn prompted the 1904 Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration. Concern was expressed about the abilities of working-class parents - especially mothers - to bring up strong, fit workers who would be an asset to society, rather than producing lawless thugs. This dread also coincided with and gave impetus to the expansion of opportunities for middle- and upper-class women to expand their public roles through philanthropic activities.

The British legal system introduced different treatments for young offenders from the 1850s onwards, when reformatory and industrial schools were first introduced. In addition to the creation of new punitive measures for dealing with the young, laws were passed removing children from certain areas of industry and restricting their activities in others, while compulsory elementary education was introduced in 1870. In 1889, the 'Children's Charter' introduced legal protections for children from various types of cruelty and enabled the state to intervene in family life. Efforts snowballed, as campaigners pressed in the 1890s and 1900s for greater legal protection and coverage for children and young people. These changes were part of a gradual evolution in the concept of childhood, and a growing interest in how the experiences of youth shaped the adult. These new laws were part of, among other things, an effort to ameliorate the condition of young people by providing them with new opportunities and protections; a growing awareness of the developmental importance of childhood; and of attempts to impose a middle-class conception of childhood upon the working classes.

Changes in the perception of childhood led to new ideas about the ways in which the delinquent and vulnerable young should be handled by the state. From the 1880s onwards, campaigners began to call in particular for the introduction of a special court to handle cases involving children and young people. (2) These efforts finally bore fruit in the Children Act of 1908, one of several reforms of the Liberal Governments of 1906-14, which included the provision of school meals, school medical inspections and pensions for orphans. Herbert Samuel, the Home Secretary, used the new Children Act to consolidate and simplify a number of existing pieces of legislation, as well as to introduce new features. The Act had six parts: infant life protection; the prevention of cruelty; the prohibition of juvenile smoking; the refining of the roles of industrial and reformatory schools; the creation of the juvenile courts; and a 'miscellaneous' division which included such provision as the banning of under-fourteens from public houses. (3) While the Act made the law clearer in certain areas, it further extended the power of the state to determine family matters, and it formally introduced the juvenile court to the British legal systems.

The British juvenile courts drew upon a diverse range of intellectual influences. They owed much to the development of the social and socio-medical sciences, notably criminology, psychology and psychiatry. These disciplines developed partly as an attempt to discover the causes of and solutions for deviant behaviours and social problems. While some, like Cesare Lombroso, the Italian criminal anthropologist, (4) looked for biological predispositions towards delinquent behaviours, others looked to the mind. Child psychology and psychiatry - as they are now known - developed at a much slower rate than the study of adults, but had emerged as a distinct discipline by the 1860s. Researchers, from the 1860s onwards, turned their attention to the psychological problems of childhood and how these may differ from those suffered by adults . (5) The Child Study Movement was founded in 1893 by James Sully, a British psychologist. The movement attracted other experts - such as the American psychiatrist G. Stanley Hall - and it also provided a forum for amateur readers alike to explore the psychology and psychiatry of the young. The Child Study Movement encouraged the view that all children were individuals, and should be treated as such by parents, teachers, and medical and social professionals. This also had resonance with radical changes in the operation of philanthropic welfare activities, notably the development by the Charity Organisation Society (COS) of case work. The COS were concerned with the rational distribution of charitable alms among the needy, which they hoped to achieve through the careful investigation and consideration of the needs of individual families. (6)

The Child Study Movement and ideas about the 'scientific' application of welfare had an important influence upon the establishment of the Cook County Juvenile Court. This court was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1899 by female reformers connected with the city's Hull-House Settlement and its Women's Club. The reformer's aim was to provide individual treatment for troubled children and to neutralise the impact of poor adult influence. They believed that dysfunctional families were the principal cause of juvenile delinquency. More specifically, that slum children misbehaved and broke the law because they were not cared for by their parents in 'appropriate' ways. The women attached to the Cook County Court in turn were highly influential in shaping other courts across the United States, although an alternate model was presented by Ben Lindsay, the self-appointed juvenile judge of Denver, Colorado. Lindsay was a firm proponent of developing 'character' among those young men who attended his court, of instilling in them the middle-class values of duty, courage, independence and self-control. (7) These developments caused a stir among reformist circles in the UK, and inspired the first British juvenile court, which was established in Birmingham in 1900. The British courts shared much in common with their American counterparts in terms of a belief that the delinquent young needed to be saved in order to protect the wider society. As on the other side of the Atlantic, the causes of juvenile delinquency were located in the failure of 'character' and of suitable (male) role modelling as well as in the failure of the family. (8)

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 created new problems for those involved in the juvenile courts. Although the courts had made progress in establishing a new model for dealing with the delinquent and vulnerable young, they were stretched to the limit by the rise in juvenile crime that occurred during the war. Cecil Leeson, commissioned by the Howard League to explore this phenomenon, found that the rising crime rate was connected to such role models as fathers, other male relatives, teachers, boys' club leaders and the like being away at the Front. Leeson also believed that many mothers were unable to supervise their children effectively as their energies were pulled between the demands of war work, queuing for rationed food and necessities, keeping up with domestic duties and anxieties about serving relatives and spouses. (9) Leeson's findings resonated with the existing discourse about the needs of the young. From the 1890s, a robust literature about the beneficial impact of boys' clubs had developed. Memoirs such as Alexander Paterson's Across the Bridges exhorted young male graduates to abandon their comfortable surroundings for boys' clubs at university settlements in the slums of East and South East London, while Charles E. B. Russell wrote at length of how the intervention of a sympathetic club leader could restore delinquent boys to good citizenship. (10) As Victor Bailey has pointed out, many of those who were involved in boys' clubs at university settlements went on to prominence within the juvenile courts; Paterson and Russell, both inspectors of industrial and reformatory schools, are a good example. (11) Young male graduates were seen to be 'good' role models for young working-class boys. The graduate club leaders could help to keep their club boys out of trouble by providing them with constructive leisure interests, moral guidance and support. While boys' clubs could have a preventative role, a similar model was used by probation officers. The 1907 Probation Act formally introduced probation as a means of rehabilitating those who had broken the law. Before the late 1960s, probation was commonly used to deal with child and youth rather than adult offenders. Probationers could be required to go to a boys' club or to reside away from bad influences; the probation officer made regular visits to his or her charges to ensure that they were following their terms and that their welfare needs were being met. (12)

Governmental commitment to the task of reducing and ideally preventing juvenile delinquency continued after the First World War, especially as the Home Office became more comfortable with the changes introduced by the Children Act of 1908. (13) The Children's Branch of the Home Office was established in 1919, which extended their remit beyond the inspection of reformatory and industrial schools to include the management of juvenile courts, probation and places of detention. The Children's Branch was also responsible for monitoring the employment of children, for preventing cruelty to children, as well as for monitoring obscene publications and the trafficking of women and children. (14) It was through the Children's Branch that subsequent reforms of the 1908 Act were carried out.

Campaigners and civil servants alike were unhappy with the limits imposed by the Act, and wished to add more proactive measures to reduce delinquency. A report commissioned by the Board of Education in 1920 argued for a link between the high wages earned by boys in 'blind-alley' labour, the paucity of constructive leisure activities in some areas and higher rates of juvenile crime - again picking up themes expressed by Leeson and other researchers as well as those who had been involved in urban youth work. In January 1925, William Joynson-Hicks, then the Conservative Home Secretary, appointed a committee, chaired by Sir Thomas Molony, to investigate the treatment of 'young offenders'. When the committee reported in 1927, they concluded that 'the welfare of the child or young person should be the primary object of the juvenile court'. They also called for magistrates with experience in dealing with young people, and that younger magistrates should be recruited to these posts. The report reiterated the importance of issues raised by the 1908 Act, notably that juvenile courts should be held at different times and in different places to adult sittings of courts. It also demanded that court proceedings be made as simple as possible in order that children and young people might better understand what was happening around them. But the report went further, calling for children and young people to remain anonymous and to be in no way identifiable in media reporting of cases. It was felt that public knowledge of a child's acts could in future unfairly jeopardise their chances of finding employment. The report also demanded that courts be furnished with as much information as possible about the lives of the children brought before it, about their school attendance, their health and their home environment. Probation was an important part of the work of the court with young offenders, a method by which the young person could be reclaimed to good citizenship through the firm and wise guidance of an appropriate adult. (15)

The report served as the foundation for the Children and Young Persons Bill, which reached enactment in 1933. The Children and Young Persons Act extended those features of the 1908 Act that were seen as needing adjustment, notably in terms of how the courts operated and by reducing the stigma of going to court. The emphasis was squarely upon reclaiming young offenders to good citizenship, of trying to counteract the impact of poverty upon the lives of young people and thereby to reduce levels of criminal behaviour. Although middle-class children certainly came before the courts - often for such crimes as travelling on the railway without a valid ticket - working-class children were disproportionately represented in the courts, with boys forming the majority of all cases seen. (16) The boys were seen as suffering from a wide range of disadvantages that arose from their less fortunate backgrounds: parents who could not provide adequate supervision as they were preoccupied with caring for younger children or working; limited access to leisure facilities and supervised play; or parents with high wages and a lack of direction in how to spend and save wisely. Certainly the Acts and the reformers behind them can be seen as attempting to control and shape the working-class family based on a middle-class model.

Poverty was not the main explanation of delinquency in all cases. By the inter-war period, magistrates were increasingly referring children and young people for psychological tests. This was a continuation of the influence of the Child Study Movement, and particularly of the development of the Child Guidance Clinics. The first Child Guidance Clinic had been set up in East London in 1927 by Emanuel Miller on Bell Lane in Spitalfields, supported financially by the Jewish Health Organisation. (17) The clinic had close working links with the East or Inner London Juvenile Court, which was based a few streets away at the Toynbee Hall settlement, as well as with Sir Cyril Burt. Burt had been appointed as psychologist to the London County Council and came to be a pioneer in the field of educational and social psychology. In 1925, he published a book based on his work with young offenders, called The Young Delinquent. He argued that delinquency was caused by neglect and various forms of poor parenting, and again emphasised that the treatment of such children by the courts required careful investigation and an individualised approach. Burt also argued for the extensive use of child guidance clinics by all juvenile courts as a means of preventing future recidivism. (18)

Some juvenile court magistrates, such as Sir William Clarke Hall, Basil Henriques, Cynthia Colville and others, keenly embraced new thinking about the causes of juvenile delinquency and the ways in which children and young people could be rehabilitated. Yet not all magistrates were as interested in reclaiming young offenders. As Deborah Thom has pointed out, the pro-corporal punishment lobby remained a powerful one - the bill which became the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act was held up on its way through the Lords so that provision for beating could be reinstated. Until the 1948 Children Act banned the practice, males could still be sentenced to a birching. Regardless of psychological evidence to the contrary, corporal punishment was seen as an effective means of instilling character into a young man, and was widely used in schools, in the Forces and by families. (19) Corporal punishment on boys aged under 14 increased in the course of the Second World War. In 1938 and 1939 there were 48 and 58 cases of whippings respectively in England and Wales; this rose to a high of 531 in 1941, gradually dropping to 165 by the end of 1943 before returning to pre-war levels in 1944 when 37 cases were handled in this way. (20) This rise has been attributed to the need to deal with increasing juvenile crime during the war in combination with retired magistrates being reinstated to cope with the dual pressures of an increasing caseload and younger magistrates serving on war duty. Therefore, attitudes to how children and young people should be treated varied from court to court, region to region, and even among members of the same bench of magistrates. Although the various Children's Acts set the pace, the magistracy did not always keep up and more authoritarian views remained in currency in some parts.

To conclude, the British juvenile justice system underwent significant philosophical changes in the first half of the 20th century. Although there were many who clung to older ideas about the benefits of corporal punishment, the view that children and young people who broke the law should be reclaimed and rehabilitated had become the orthodox view by the passing of the 1948 Children Act, which maintained the 1933 Act and expanded provision for those children looked after by the state. This approach drew upon the views of social workers in the slums of British and American cities, of researchers in the new social and medical sciences, and upon a view that social problems were best tackled 'scientifically' and 'methodically'. Delinquency was seen as part of a social matrix, as resulting from structural inequalities and deficient parenting styles. The solution to the problem of delinquency was seen as lying within the reformation of the structures which caused these inequities. For the more radical magistrates and Home Office advisers, the answer was not to overhaul society, but to reform the ways in which children and young people were treated by the courts. Thus the juvenile courts of the first half of the 20th century were concerned as much with social justice as they were with criminal.

Notes:

1. See B. Goldson, The New Youth Justice (Lyme Regis, 2000) p. 309; B. Goldson and J. Muncie, Youth, Crime and Justice: Critical Issues (London, 2006) and D. Garland, The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society (Oxford, 2002). Back to (1)

2. G. Behlmer, Friends of the Family: The English Home and its Guardians (Stanford, 1998) pp. 242-7. Back to (2)

3. H. Hendrick, Child Welfare: England 1872 - 1989 (London, 1994) pp. 121-5. Back to (3)

4. See K. Bradley, 'Cesare Lombroso', in 50 Key Thinkers in Criminology, ed. K. Hayward, S. Maruna and J. Mooney (London, 2009). Back to (4)

5. W. Llewellyn Parry Jones, 'The history of child and adolescent psychiatry: its present day relevance,' Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 30 (1989), 3-11. Back to (5)

6. J. Lewis, The Voluntary Sector, the State and Social Work in Britain: the Charity Organisation Society/Family Welfare Association since 1869 (London, 1995) Back to (6)

7. E. J. Clapp, Mothers of All Children: Women Reformers and the Rise of Juvenile Courts in Progressive Era America (University Park, PA, 1998) p. 89, 45 and 120. Back to (7)

8. See A. Logan, '"A suitable person for suitable cases": the gendering of juvenile courts in England c.1910-39', 20th Century British History 16 (2005), 129-45 and K. M. Bradley, 'Juvenile delinquency, the juvenile courts and the settlement movement 1908-50: Basil Henriques and Toynbee Hall', 20th Century British History 19 (2008), 133-55. Back to (8)

9. C. Leeson, The Child and the War, Being Notes on Juvenile Delinquency (London, 1917). Back to (9)

10. A. Paterson, Across the Bridges: Or Life by the South London Riverside (London, 1911) and C. E. B. Russell, Young Gaol-Birds (London, 1910). Back to (10)

11. V. Bailey, Delinquency and Citizenship: Reclaiming the Young Offender 1914-18 (Oxford, 1987) p. 2, 10-12 and 15. Back to (11)

12. See P. Whitehead and R. Statham, The History of Probation: Politics, Power and Cultural Change 1876-2005 (Crayford, 2006). Back to (12)

13. Behlmer, Friends of the Family, p. 245. Back to (13)

14. P. Lerman, 'Policing juveniles in London, shifts in guiding discretion, 1893-1968', British Journal of Criminology, 24 (1984), 168-84; 175-6. Back to (14)

15. Report of the Departmental Committee on the Treatment of Young Offenders, 1925-7 Cmd. 2831 (London, 1927) pp. 121-3. Back to (15)

16. See B. Henriques, Indiscretions of a Magistrate: Thoughts on the Work of the Juvenile Court (London, 1950); also P. Cox, Gender, Justice and Welfare: Bad Girls in Britain 1900-50 (Basingstoke, 2003) and K. Bradley, Poverty, Philanthropy and the State: Charities and the Working Classes in London 1918-79 (Manchester, 2009). Back to (16)

17. G. Renton, 'The east London child guidance clinic', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 19 (1978) 309-12; 309. Back to (17)

18. C. Burt, The Young Delinquent, (London, 1925). Back to (18)

19. D. Thom, 'The healthy citizen of empire or juvenile delinquent? Beating and mental health in the UK,' in Cultures of Child Health in Britain and the Netherlands in the 20th Century, ed. M. Gijswijt-Hofstra and H. Marland (Amsterdam, 2003) pp.189-212. Back to (19)

20. Cmd. 7227, Summary of Statistics Relating to Crime and Criminal Proceedings for the Years 1939-1945, (London, 1946-7), p. 10. Back to (20)

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Juvenile delinquency and the evolution of the British juvenile courts, c.1900-1950, by Kate Bradley, (University of Kent)

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Kate Bradley, University of Kent When looking at the problem of youth crime in the early 21st century, we are confronted with a highly punitive discourse which talks of 'clamping down' on youth crime, of 'zero tolerance' of 'anti-social behaviour'.

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the battle of ideas is an annual international festival of debate and ideas. free speech allowed.

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Battle of Ideas 2011 | Battle in Print | How teenage pregnancy became redefined as a social problem

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This timeline sets out a brief history of youth justice in England and Wales from the first attempts to separate young offenders from adults in the criminal justice system a little over 220 years ago. Although not intentionally focused on custodial provision, many of the significant events concern attempts to reform, replace or divert children from various types of institutions. The recognition of a need for resettlement support after custody is also a recurring theme - from the embryonic youth justice system to the present day. You can download the timeline here.
1792 ~ The Royal Philanthropic Society opens a centre in London to take convicted children who might otherwise be transported abroad. In 1797 it starts supporting children after they leave - possibly the first such resettlement scheme.

1823 ~ Prison ships are introduced to house some young offenders - the first government sponsored institutions to separate young offenders from adults. Criticised for being harsh and cruel, the last of these hulks closes in 1846.

1838 ~ Parkhurst Prison opens in the Isle of Wight as the first land-based penal institution run by the state exclusively for juveniles. Castigated by prison reformers, the prison is 're-roled' for adults in 1864.
1847 ~ Juvenile Offenders Act - The first legislation to distinguish between adults and children for justice purposes. It allowed children under 14 to be tried for some lesser offences summarily in a magistrates' court.
1854 ~ Reformatory School Act enables voluntary reformatories to be approved by the Inspector of Prisons. Based on the principles of a Victorian Christian home, reformatories are intended to save troubled children from a fallen life.

1854 ~ Youthful Offenders Act allows courts to sentence children under 16 to a stint in a reformatory for between two and five years as an alternative to prison - but they must serve an initial 14 days in prison.

1893 ~ Reformatory Schools Act gives courts the option of sending children to reformatories without the initial two weeks in prison. The prison element is finally abolished in the Reformatory Schools Act 1899.

1901 ~ Youthful Offenders Act permits remand homes for children who are committed for trial. Young people may be held in remand homes or in workhouses instead of being kept in adult prisons.

1902 ~ The first borstal institution for young males opens on an experimental basis near Rochester in Kent. Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise introduces a strict regime based on physical drill, training and education.
1908 ~ Children Act - Established a separate juvenile court for the first time dealing with both crime and welfare issues; abolished custody for children below 14 in the juvenile court; introduced new short-term sentences for detention in police-run remand homes.
1907 ~ Probation of Offenders Act allows magistrates to discharge offenders on the condition that they are supervised in the community. Initially, it is principally aimed at replacing punishment for young offenders.
1933 ~ Children and Young Persons Act requires courts to have regard to a child's welfare, raises the age of criminal responsibility to eight years old, and abolishes the death penalty for the under 18s.
1908 ~ Children Act establishes a separate juvenile court for the first time, dealing with both crime and welfare issues, abolishes custody for children below 14, and now requires the police to provide remand homes.

1908 ~ Prevention of Crime Act rolls out borstals nationally for males aged 16-20 on an indeterminate sentence between one and three years. Release is followed by a supervised licence period of resettlement in the community.

1933 ~ Home Office approved schools are also created by the Children and Young Persons Act. Replacing both reformatories and industrial schools, the voluntary units house both children deemed criminal and those beyond parental control.

1948 ~ Criminal Justice Act abolishes committal to adult prisons for children under 17 years, but allows other types of custody. Non-custodial Attendance Centres are introduced for children over 12 to be sent for specified daytime activities.

1952 ~ Detention Centres are opened, where sentences of up to three months are intended as a 'short, sharp, shock' for 14 to 20 yr olds. The 1948 Act introduced them to replace court-imposed corporal punishment.

1959 ~ Rioting at Carlton Approved School involving staff being stoned and mass absconding damages public confidence in Approved Schools. The resulting inquiry recommended the use of more closed facilities for difficult children.

1961 ~ Ingelby Report recommends raising the age of criminal responsibility from 8 to 12. Set up in 1956, the Committee emphasises local authority welfare, early intervention and support for the family.

1963 ~ Children and Young Persons Act raises the age of criminal responsibility to 10. Responding to the Ingleby Report, it also requires local authorities to undertake preventative work with children and families at risk of offending.
1969 ~ Children and Young Persons Act introduces supervision orders and care orders. Secure units and approved schools are combined into local authority community homes. Its raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 is never implemented. 1982 ~ Criminal Justice Act merges youth imprisonment and borstals into youth custody centres for the under 21s, restricting use to a last resort. Detention centres are reaffirmed as a short, sharp shock. 'Specified activities' are introduced.
1964 ~ The first Secure Unit opens in Kingswood, near Bristol. Proposed by a Home Office Inspectorate group in 1961, the custodial units are meant for children aged 10 to 18 who have absconded from open Approved Schools.
1988 ~ Criminal Justice Act restricts the use of custody for children and provides specified activities as a statutory alternative to custody. Youth custody centres and detention centres combine to form young offender institutions.
1964 ~ Longford Report recommends the abolition of the juvenile court and replacement by a panel of experts. The recommendation is adopted by the Labour government and appears in a White Paper, but is subsequently dropped.
1991 ~ Criminal Justice Act replaces juvenile courts with youth courts and includes 17 year olds for the first time. The age that the youth court can impose custody is raised from 14 to 15, and curfew orders are introduced for the over 16s.
1967 ~ Court Lees Approved School exposed in the press and a later Home Office inquiry for alleged abusive use of corporal punishment. It is one of several similar scandals at Approved Schools, fuelling public discontent.
1994 ~ Criminal Justice and Public Order Act increases the offences range referred to the Crown Court and doubles the length of the detention period available. Youth courts can use new custodial sentences for 12-14 year old persistent offenders.
1971 ~ The first of two youth treatment centres opens at St Charles, Essex. The Department of Health units are for young people considered too disturbed for other custodial options. Both youth treatment centres are closed by 2002.

1983 ~ Intermediate treatment and intensive probation initiatives are introduced by the Department of Health to fund alternatives to custody for children. £15 million of funding leads to 98 new diversionary projects by 1985. Custody rates fall dramatically.
1998 ~ Crime and Disorder Act introduces the principal aim for youth justice as being the prevention of offending. It establishes multi-agency youth offending teams and a range of orders. "Doli incapax" for children under 14 is abolished.
1985 ~ United Nations "Beijing Rules" (UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice) emphasise that children's detention should only be a last resort. In 1990, "Riyadh Guidelines" set standards for care in juvenile justice.

1989 ~ Children Act abolishes care orders and supervision orders in criminal proceedings. It also establishes a separate family proceedings court so that the juvenile court can deal purely with young offenders.

1989 ~ UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is published. Article 3 states that children's best interests should always be a primary consideration, and Article 37 limits custody to the shortest possible time.

1993 ~ Two-year-old James Bulger is murdered by two 10-year-old boys in Liverpool. The media and public backlash against young people hardens political attitudes to young offenders and influences justice policy for decades.

1993 ~ Criminal Justice Act signals a punitive turn for the justice system. It allows more scope for courts to impose tougher sentences, taking into account offender history and offences committed while on bail.

1996 ~ Misspent Youth report is published by the Audit Commission, criticising the youth justice system as too costly, inefficient and ineffective. It recommends greater interagency cooperation in national government and local practice.

1997 ~ No More Excuses: A new approach to tackling youth crime in England and Wales is released as a White Paper by the new government. Its hardened tone emphasises offenders taking personal responsibility and system efficiency.

1998 ~ The first secure training centre for 12 to 14 year olds opens in Kent, implementing the 1994 Act's secure training order. Children serve half their sentence in custody and half in the community, reemphasising resettlement.

1998 ~ Youth Justice Board is established following the Crime and Disorder Act. The new body is responsible for monitoring and promoting good practice. In April 2000 it also takes responsibility for commissioning custodial places.

1999 ~ Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act creates referral orders, where first-time offenders pleading guilty are diverted from courts to lay panels. Contracts agreed with offenders emphasise restorative justice. They are available nationwide in 2002.

1999 ~ Anti-social behaviour orders are introduced following the 1998 Act. These civil court orders are disproportionately received by children, imposing restrictions for sub-criminal behaviour. Breaching is a criminal offence punishable by custody.

2000 ~ First set of national standards specific to youth justice is introduced by the Youth Justice Board, defining the minimum required level of service provision from agencies. Funding is conditional on related key performance targets.

2000 ~ Detention and training order replaces detention in a young offender institution and the secure training order. Sentences of four to 24 months are served half in detention and half on community licence, requiring youth offending team co-ordinated resettlement support.

2001 ~ Intensive supervision and surveillance programme is piloted as a rigorous community alternative to custody for persistent offenders. Rolled out in 2003, an intensive supervision and surveillance programme can be a condition of bail, an order or a post-custody licence condition.

2002 ~ Presumption of early release is introduced for children serving detention and training orders (except in certain circumstances), subject to an electronically monitored curfew. Release one or two months early means longer community licence resettlement.

2002 ~ Justice Munby rules that children in custodial institutions are entitled to the same mainstream services that most children in the community receive; they are still protected by the Children Act 1989 and human rights legislation.

2003 ~ Criminal Justice Act introduces indeterminate and extended custodial sentences for public protection. It stipulates that all previous convictions should be treated as aggravating unless it is unreasonable to treat them as such.

2004 ~ Children Act extends safeguarding duties to criminal justice agencies. It stipulates greater co-operation between youth offending teams and child protection services, and underlines the safeguarding duties of custodial institutions.

2004 ~ The first adolescent forensic unit opens at the Westwood Centre, West Lane Hospital, Middlesborough. Locked units for 12 to 18 year olds effectively replace the much larger previous youth treatment centres.

2006 ~ Youth Crime Action Plan is published, with a target of reducing first-time entrants to the youth justice system by a fifth by 2020. The government pledges almost £100 million to fund youth crime reduction initiatives.

2008 ~ Criminal Justice and Immigration Act replaces all existing community orders with the youth rehabilitation order, addressing reoffending risk through an individualised intervention package. Requirements for courts to balance the prevention of offending with welfare remain unimplemented.

2008 ~ Statutory alternatives to custody are also introduced by the Act, by attaching intensive supervision and surveillance or intensive fostering to a youth rehabilitation order. Courts must justify not imposing such an alternative where they sentence a child to custody.

2012 ~ Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act devolves remand custody costs to local authorities. It also allows courts to conditionally discharge children, allows repeated referral orders and restricts the scope of public protection sentences.

2013 ~ Transforming Youth Custody proposes secure colleges for 12-17 year olds to replace existing custody, with the first to open in 2017. The government's response to consultation emphasises a commitment to improving partnership working in resettlement.

2014 ~ Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act replaces anti-social behaviour orders with injunctions for the prevention of nuisance and annoyance (civil) and criminal behaviour orders. In addition to restrictions, the new orders allow courts to impose activity requirements.

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Youth justice timeline - Beyond Youth Custody

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This timeline sets out a brief history of youth justice in England and Wales from the first attempts to separate young offenders from adults in the criminal justice system a little over 220 years ago. Although not intentionally focused on custodial provision, many of the significant events concern attempts to reform, replace or divert children from various types of institutions.

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794,000 people aged between 16-24 were NEET (not in employment, education or training) in the final quarter of 2017. (Parliament.UK).  The Government is funding various schemes that look to improve the education outcomes for disadvantaged young people, and those with learning difficulties or disabilities.  Although various steps have been taken to help young people find sustainable employment such as the expansion of the apprenticeship scheme, the Government's plans to create 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020 have so far been largely unfounded (Muir 2012). 

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794,000 people aged between 16-24 were NEET (not in employment, education or training) in the final quarter of 2017. (Parliament.UK).  The Government is funding various schemes that look to improve the education outcomes for disadvantaged young people, and those with learning difficulties or disabilities.  Although various steps have been taken to help young people find sustainable employment such as the expansion of the apprenticeship scheme, the Government's plans to create 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020 have so far been largely unfounded (Muir 2012). 

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Although the young person themselves may feel that being pregnant is a positive situation to be in, society as a whole will have a negative view on teenage pregnancies. There are many negatives outcomes that could arise for a teenage mum, these include;
Poverty
Being Unemployed
Housing issues
Lower educational achievements
Loneliness/Social Isolation

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Youth justice services | Facts and statistics about youth crime

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The UK continues to have the highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe, figures published by the Office for National Statistics reveal.

Data for birth rates across the 28 countries of the European Union in 2014 show the UK had lower rates than just Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Latvia.

The rate for the UK in 2014 was 6.8 per 1,000 15-17-year-olds, compared to 1.1 in Denmark and 1.3 in the Netherlands.

Sexual health charity FPA's Head of Programmes Paul Casey said the figures are a stark reminder of how much work still needs to be done.

"We have a record low level of teenage pregnancies but still lag behind most countries in Europe," he said.

"Of course not all teenage pregnancies are unplanned or unwanted but teenagers who become parents are more likely to have poorer health, education, social and economic outcomes.

"International evidence shows the many benefits of sex and relationships education (SRE), including in reducing unplanned pregnancies.

"There is overwhelming support from young people, parents and teachers in the UK for the Government to introduce statutory SRE, but so far these calls have been ignored.

"As well as high-quality education, it is vital young people can access sexual and reproductive health information and support services. At a time when local authorities have to work with shrinking public health budgets, we must ensure this remains a priority."

How the UK compares to the rest of the European Union
Live births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 17 in EU28 countries, 2014
Source: Office for National Statistics, including Eurostat data

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UK has highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe

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The UK continues to have the highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe, figures published by the Office for National Statistics reveal. Data for birth rates across the 28 countries of the European Union in 2014 show the UK had lower rates than just Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Latvia.