New research suggests most children in the Youth Justice system have suffered significant trauma

The report published by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner suggests most children in the youth justice system have suffered abuse, trauma or poverty.

The Punishing Abuse report, one of the most wide-ranging contemporary studies conducted into children in the criminal justice system in this country, argues that a number of children in the youth justice system are being punished as a consequence of the impact on their behaviours of their early abuse and loss.

The report highlights the abuse and adversity that these children have suffered with:

• nine in ten children known or suspected to have been abused;
• eight in ten children known or suspected to have a health issue;
• eight in ten subject to school exclusion or attendance at multiple secondary schools;
• seven in ten known or suspected to have lived with domestic violence whilst growing up;
• seven in ten children known or suspected to be a victim of violence;
• seven in ten children lived in poverty;
• Out of the 80 children studied there was only one child with no recorded abuse or childhood adversity.

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