It being not only poible but even eay to predict which ten-year-old boy are at greatet rik of growing up to be peritent offender, what are we doing with the information? Jut about the lat thing that we hould do i to wait until their trouble have ecalated in adolecence and then attack them with the proviion of the new Criminal Jutice Bill.
If thi bill become law, magitrate will have the power to impoe reidential care order. More young people will be drawn into intitutional life when all the evidence how that thi woren rather than improve their propect. The introduction of hort harp hock in detention center will imply give more young people a tate of omething ele they don’t need;the whole regime of detention center i one of toughening delinquent, and if you want to train omeone to be anti-etablihment, “I can’t think of a better way to do it,” ay the writer of thi report.
The Cambridge Intitute of Criminology come up with five key factor that are likely to make for delinquency: a low income family a large family, parent deemed by ocial worker to be bad at raiing children, parent who themelve have a criminal record, and low intelligence in the child. Not urpriingly, the factor tend to overlap. Of the 63 boy in the ample who had at leat three of them when they were ten, half became juvenile delinquent—compared with only a fifth of the ample a a whole.WWw.hAOZUowEN.com
Three more factor make the prediction more accurate: being judged troubleome by teacher at the age of ten, having a father with at leat two criminal conviction and having another member of the family with a criminal record. Of the 35 men who had at leat two of thee factor in their background 18 became peritent delinquent and 8 more were in trouble with the law.
Among thoe key factor, far and away the mot important wa having a parent with a criminal record, even if that had been acquired in the ditant pat, even though very few parent did other than condemn delinquent behavior in their children.
The role of the chool emerge a extremely important. The mot reliable prediction of all on the future of boy came from teacher’ rating of how troubleome they were at the age of ten. If the information i there in the claroom there mut be a repone that bring more attention to thoe troubleome children: a earch for thing to give them credit for other than academic achievement, a refual to allow them to go on playing truant, and a fotering of ambition and opportunity which hould tart early in their chool career.