Care-experienced young people more likely to receive criminal conviction than peers, figures show
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
More than half of looked-after children born in 1994 had a criminal conviction by the time they were 24, official figures have shown.
The data, published by the Office for National Statistics, shows that 52 per cent of care-experienced young people were handed a criminal conviction by age 24, compared with 13 per cent of their non care experienced peers of the same age.
One in seven care experienced children, whose data was examined for the research, received an immediate custodial sentence by the time they were 24, compared with one per cent of young people with no experience of care of the same age.
The figures also show that around 30 per cent of young people with experience of care received an immediate custodial sentence by the time they were 16. The proportion among their non-care experienced peers of the same age was nine per cent.
Two in five of convictions of young people with experience of care involved a fined or community order.
The analysis also shows that looked-after children received their first custodial sentence at a younger age than their non-care experienced peers.
While on average those with experience of care received their first custodial sentence when they were 18, for those not in care the average age was 20 years.
Emily Aklan, chief executive of children’s services organisation Serenity Welfare described the latest statistics as “shocking”.
“These findings are important to highlight that it is children’s circumstances, not the children themselves, which are to blame – children in care are victims of the system.”
“Funding needs to be focused on the very start with early interventions, so that fewer children are exposed to this environment which leads them to the criminal justice system," she said.
Theft and minor non-motoring summary offences, dealt with in a magistrate’s court, were the most common offences committed by care-experienced young people, according to the figures.
On average care-experienced young people, by the time they were 24, had committed twice as many offences leading to an immediate custodial sentence as those who have not experienced care.
In addition, the latest figures show that four in five looked-after children had a special educational need (SEN), compared with a third of those not in care.
For those with experience of care who received a sentence before they were 24, the proportion with an SEN increases to 92 per cent.
