NO - Mike Thomas, vice-chair, Association of Youth Offending TeamManagers
It is ludicrous to suggest children should be monitored from birth forcriminal tendencies, as suggested in the Government's policy review.Children and their families should be provided with support at an earlystage in order to prevent the likelihood of them having to access arange of statutory services at a later stage. Criminality is but one ofa long list of potential outcomes for children exhibiting certain riskfactors and it is highly damaging to start labelling them.
YES - Paul Kiff, senior lecturer in criminology, University of EastLondon
If you don't identify which children are at risk of developing long-termcriminal careers then there is a danger that certain types of youngpeople, mainly from poorer backgrounds, will be labelled. There are veryspecific characteristics that predict criminal career development. Thisdoesn't just mean screaming at their parents - it is usually quitebizarre behaviour. The earlier the potential is spotted, the easier itis to prevent them developing into criminals. If it is left until theyare teenagers it is too late.
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