CHAPTER 7
Juvenile Delinquency
The definition of juvenile delinquency is legal and is not directly related
to mental health. In the UK, it refers to a person between the ages of 10
and 17 who has been found guilty of an offence that would be criminal
in an adult. Contrary to popular belief, more than 90% of the offences are
against property rather than persons: thieving, driving away cars, breaking
in, and destructive vandalism. Personal violence, drug offences and sex
offences comprise less than 10%. Comparisons between official records
and delinquents’ self-reports and the results of victim surveys suggest
that official records only cover about one-tenth of all offences committed.
This discrepancy between actual and reported offences applies mainly to
smaller crimes; more serious ones are reported in the majority of cases.
For relatively minor offences, the chance of being caught decreases if the
perpetrator is white, attends a high-achieving school, is from an orderly
home and is of normal intelligence. This is not true for more serious
offences – personal and demographic characteristics are closely similar
whether judged from self-reports or from official records. Once caught,
the chances of being charged are increased if there is a previous criminal
record, if the type of offence is considered serious and if the individual is
older or black. Characteristics of Young Offenders in Britain from a large
survey are given in Box 7.1.
Epidemiology
Age
There is an overall peak in law-breaking in the late teens, when theft and
property offences are at a maximum; violence peaks in the early twenties
and there is a rapid decrease overall by the mid-twenties. One half to
three-quarters of people convicted will never be convicted again, leaving
a ‘hard core’ of around a quarter who repeat offences. The characteristics
which predict repeaters are similar in kind to those which predict delin-
quency overall, but are more marked. Starting young is a major predictor
of persistence. Thus, in the influential ‘Cambridge’ Longitudinal Study
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Third Edition. Robert Goodman and Stephen Scott.
©c2012 Robert Goodman and Stephen Scott. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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