Children are being pulled into the youth justice system because their early health, education and care needs are not being addressed, according to a new Child of the North report.
The authors call for urgent action as new analysis shows both the number of children in the justice system and reoffending rates are rising together for the first time in a decade.
Published as part of the Child of the North #ChildrenFirst campaign, the Childhood Vulnerability, Crime and Justice Update highlights new evidence showing how educational disengagement, safeguarding concerns, and structural inequalities related to ethnicity influence children’s contact with the justice system.
The authors call for national infrastructure and guidance to support data linkage across public services, demonstrating how linking routinely collected information can help identify vulnerable children earlier and inform more timely, targeted support.
The report highlights recent research conducted by researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Hull which uses nationwide linked Department for Education and Ministry of Justice records to show that children who are permanently excluded from school face double the risk of serious violence in the year that follows.
Crucially, this risk is already heightened before exclusion, underscoring the need for earlier, preventative action. These findings also strengthen the case for school exclusion to trigger robust multi-agency safeguarding responses.
The report also draws on studies conducted in Bradford by the ESRC Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre which identify two distinct pathways through which young people become disengaged from education, employment, or training.
The research shows that a uniform approach cannot meet the needs of all disengaged children, whose circumstances differ greatly. For example, a child disengaging due to caring responsibilities and a child excluded for behavioural issues currently receive the same generic support, despite requiring completely different interventions. The findings underline the urgent need for tailored interventions that reflects these diverse needs of children.
Further research from the centre shows that 10% of looked-after children who go missing account for half of all missing episodes. These children evidence a pattern of acute vulnerability that creates significant safeguarding demand for police and public service partners, underscoring the need for intensive support.
The analysis reveals important insights into the risk factors and timing of missing episodes, which often coincide with the underlying needs of a child and, in some cases, can be an early indicator of criminal exploitation.
Crisis impacting children
Report co-author Professor Dan Birks from the University of Leeds said: “Child of the North is calling for an unrelenting focus on addressing the crisis impacting millions of children throughout the UK – a crisis which is resulting in too many vulnerable children being criminalised.
“We urgently need stronger, evidence-led support for the most vulnerable children. Without it, problems such as unmet special educational needs, family stress, or trauma increase the risk of escalating into unnecessary contact with the justice system, placing additional strain on already overstretched public services and exposing children to further harm.
“Reducing these upstream risks and minimising contact with the justice system are essential steps in preventing victimisation, reducing offending, and improving outcomes across the life course.
“A whole-system preventative approach is the only sustainable path forward, but it must be guided by evidence. Harnessing the data public services routinely collect allows us to map how vulnerabilities cluster and rigorously evaluate our response. This ensures support is not only coordinated but targeted exactly where it will deliver the greatest benefit.”
