In the report Hoodie or Goodie, which is released today (10 October), Victim Support aimed to explore the link between being a victim of violent crime, and offending behaviour in young people.
Interviews were carried out with 46 young people aged between 14 and 18, who were either perpetrators or victims of violent crime. The study establishes three pathways to explain how victimisation can lead to offending: retaliatory violence towards the perpetrator; the victim lashing out indiscriminately out of frustration and anger; and the victim befriending his or her attackers. A spokesman for Victim Support said the recent spate of violent youth crime meant young people were being pigeonholed into being "good or bad". "We know life isn't black and white," he said. "We have always thought life was more complicated and this research validates this."
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