Statistics

(Time for a Fresh Start, The report of the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour, 2010, p.41).

"An estimated 15 per cent of five-year olds in Britain exhibit behaviour that is persistently more ‘oppositional and defiant’ than is usual for their age. By the time they are eight years old, the behaviour of around a fifth will have moved within a ‘normal’ range, while a smaller group of children who previously did not exhibit antisocial behaviour will do so for the first time. As shown… this process continues as children grow into adolescence. By the age of 17, the proportion whose chronically antisocial behaviour matches the criteria for diagnosable conduct disorders has dwindled to around 5 or 6 per cent. This group, nevertheless, consists largely of young people who displayed comparable behaviour problems at an earlier age. Put another way, up to 40 per cent of children with diagnosed conduct disorders will, unless they receive effective treatment, develop into psychosocially disturbed adults, whose behaviour includes persistent involvement in drug misuse, physical violence and crime. (Coid, J.W., 2003. ‘Formulating strategies for the primary prevention of adult antisocial behaviour: ‘high risk’ or ‘population’ strategies?’. In D.P. Farrington and J.W. Coid (eds.) Early Prevention of Adult Antisocial Behaviour, Cambridge: Cambirdge University Press; source: Time for a Fresh Start, The report of the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour, 2010, p.41).

“The conclusion we draw is that crucial and underexploited opportunities exist to prevent potentially prolific, serious and violent offending careers by making early help available for children with severe behaviour problems and their families. We are supported in this view by calculations which show the huge costs to public services of dealing with chronically antisocial adolescents and young adults. Calculated at 2009 prices these are in the region of £85,900 by the time a conduct disordered ten-year old who has not received help reaches the age of 27, compared with £9,100 for others without childhood behaviour problems.” (Scott, S., Knapp, M., Henderson, J. & Maughan B. (2001) Cost of social exclusion: Antisocial children grow up. British Medical Journal Vol. 323 (7306) pp. 191-193; source: Time for a Fresh Start, The report of the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour, 2010, p.41).

"Risk factors that appear to be implicated in the causes of antisocial behaviour and offending relate to individual children, their families, friends and peers, their education, and the neighbourhoods in which they live.” (Farrington, D.P., 2000, Explaining and preventing crime: the globalization of knowledge. Criminology, Vol. 38, pp. 801-824; source: Time for a Fresh Start, The report of the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour, 2010, p.39).