Descripción de Casos de Uso del Negocio

The legislative reforms and changes to policy described in the previous sections have been influenced by the development of a range of biological, sociological and psychological

theoretical perspectives to attempt to uncover the root causes of delinquent behaviour (Brown, 2013). Collectively, these theoretical perspectives contribute to a body of evidence that

supports the knowledge that young people who offend are a group with multiple needs including mental health needs. In particular, there is evidence that the biopsychosocial model (first proposed by Engels in the 1970s to assist the clinical conceptualisation and formulation of disease, highlighting risk and protective factors within a developmental framework

(George and Engel, 1980), is a useful way to consider individual, family, social contextual and intergenerational factors that may be relevant for this group.

A number of research studies provide support for the biopsychosocial model to help

understand aspects relevant for youth who offend – for instance, the UK Cambridge study in delinquent behaviours (Farrington and West, 1990). This prospective longitudinal study began in 1961 as a survey of crime and delinquency in 411 males aged 8-9 years. Participants were interviewed regularly between the ages of 9 to 48 years old. The study aimed to describe offending behaviour of inner-city males and to explore why these behaviours started and if they could be predicted (Farrington and West, 1990). This longitudinal study takes a

multifactorial perspective on understanding the needs and vulnerabilities of young offenders through considering factors such as family history, early upbringing, experiences of

inconsistent parenting, parents’ own difficulties and other relevant family factors, social and

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education history, and personal history including early development. The study also considers young people’s profile of skills and needs such as early speech, cognitive function,

intellectual ability, and other medical and mental health problems.

Findings from the Cambridge longitudinal study identified six categories of risk factors at ages 8-10 years that predicted future offending: disruptive child behaviour (e.g. dishonesty);

criminality in the family (e.g. a convicted parent); low intelligence or low school attainment;

poor childrearing (poor discipline and supervision, or separation of a child from a parent);

impulsiveness (risk-taking, restlessness, or poor concentration), and economic deprivation (low income, poor housing, large family size) (Farrington et al., 2013, p.6). To illustrate the predictive nature of these risk factors in later offending, findings published in 1988 suggest that over two thirds (73%)of 63 boys with a combination of three or more of the risk factors described above, had been convicted up to the age of 32 (Farrington et al., 2013). It is important however, to consider whether or not these factors may be predictive, or a result of, other variables. However, this longitudinal study has a number of limitations, notably that the sample is all male, white working class and from one geographical location. These

considerations potentially limit the generalisability of the findings.

Nonetheless, other longitudinal studies undertaken in different countries and within the UK have reported consistent findings in similar domains. For example, in the Dunedin

Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study - a longitudinal study of 1037 New Zealand children born in 1972-73 - analysis of the characteristics of preschool children for later antisocial outcomes suggested that the best predictor of antisocial disorders at age 11 was the presence of pre-school behaviour problems (White et al., 1990). Further, similar findings are reported in the NewcastleThousand-Family Study - a longitudinal study in North East England of 1142 children born in 1947 in Newcastle. This study originally aimed to identify risk factors in infant infections and later included a range of other factors related to health, education and family life (Pearce et al., 2009).Exploring social and parenting factors affecting rates of youth criminal offences, Kolvin et al. report a strong association between male delinquency and deprivation in the home e.g. poor cleanliness and poor guidance and supervision (Kolvin et al., 1988). However, the study authors acknowledge that the study was neither designed to nor took into account other influences such as peer-groups and that other interacting factors may be important (Kolvin et al., 1988).

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Although the biopsychosocial model provides a useful and important approach to

understanding how multiple factors may be relevant when considering youth crime and the complex needs of young people who offend, critics argue that the model can exclude other potential factors and explanations (Case et al., 2017). These shortcomings will at least in part be addressed in this thesis - other factors including context-specific issues (e.g. contact between young people and justice staff and the direct experiences of the young people in youth justice) and contemporary offending behaviours (e.g. ‘sexting’) have been considered within the research. Examples of how individual relevant theoretical perspectives rather than a multi-level model (e.g. biopsychosocial) might be applied to young people’s and staff

experiences in the specific context of the police custody setting and how this contributes to our knowledge about the role of risk factors are discussed in Chapter Seven.

Contemporary offending behaviours such as sexting - the sending of sexualised insults or distributing sexual images without consent - (Wilkinson, 2016), is a recently categorised offence (January 2016) under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Criminal Justice Act 1988). The longitudinal studies described above have typically focussed on risk-factors associated with later offences such as violence, theft and criminal damage. However recent police figures report that young people are increasingly presenting to justice services arrested and/or charged with ‘sexting’ offences (17 per day for the period 2016/17) (Office for National Statistics, 2017). The legal categorisation and increasing numbers of young people reportedly engaging in these types of digital (e.g. on-line) offending behaviours creates challenges as to whether or not the risk factors for these types of offending behaviours are the same for other offending behaviours and recognising and dealing with these issues within the existing legal framework. Other youth crime such as those involving a bladed weapon need also to be considered. Although knife crime is not a contemporary offending behaviour, the Office for National Statistics data reported a 21% increase in knife crime in the past 12 months and by the start of April 2018, 62 people (mainly youth under the age of 25) were killed in England and Wales as a result of a stabbing (Office for National Statistics, 2017). Emerging research evidence suggests that that the growth of the digital world may be fuelling young people’s engagement in knife/bladed weapon related violent behaviour by, for example, inciting violence through the sharing of ‘drill’ music (music videos featuring rappers that often threaten and provoke people from rival areas) on social media platforms that are intended for youth audiences (Pinkney and Robinson-Edwards, 2018). The emergence of ‘digital

sociology’ theories that focus on the growth of the digital world and the challenges it poses

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(Daniels and Gregory, 2016) may prove useful in exploring whether, for example, technology has up-scaled the same kinds of recognised ‘past’ behaviours (e.g. bullying and violence) and/or has created modes for different types of offending. The impact of identifying and managing these behaviours on community forensic services is discussed further in Chapter Nine.