Top criminologist reveals new research at youth crime conference

Exclusion from school has been revealed as one the most significant factors in young people turning to crime, says the Chair of Penology in the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh, Professor Lesley McAra.

Speaking at Nacro's annual conference: Working together to reduce youth crime, on Thursday 26th November, she will be revealing new results from the Edinburgh Study, a longitudinal project carried out with Susan McVie over 10 years, due to be published early next year.

From 4,300 young people, who were part of the research, results show:

• 15% had at least one criminal conviction by age 22.
• 1163 children left school at the earliest opportunity, 35% of whom ended up with a conviction.
• 471 were excluded from school by age 14, 50% of whom were convicted of at least one offence by age 22.

Prof Lesley McAra says: "Our research shows that inclusion in education is one of the keys to keeping young people away from offending. Persistent offending is also strongly linked to victimisation and social adversity. That is why structured criminal justice interventions should be a last resort. It is time we stopped criminalising children and started looking at interventions through an educational lens."

Nacro's annual conference brings together experts and professionals working in the criminal justice system. This year, the focus will be on sparking debate and developing practices to help reduce youth crime.

Other key speakers at the conference include:

Mark Johnson, Author of the bestselling autobiography Wasted, Guardian columnist and members of UserVoice
Gillian Guy, Chief Executive, Victim Support
Geeta Subramaniam, Head of Crime Reduction and Supporting
People, London Borough of Lewisham
Detective Superintendent Geoff Wessell, Lead on Xcalibre, Greater Manchester Police
John Drew, Chief Executive, Youth Justice Board
Jackie Worrall, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Nacro
Rob Allen, Director of the International Centre for Prison Studies
Paul Cavadino, Former Chief Executive, Nacro

Paul Cavadino will also be introducing Nacro’s new CEO, Paul McDowell who will outline his vision for Nacro over the coming months.

ENDS

Further media info: Olivia Ware 020 7840 7216 / 07974 189979 or olivia.ware@nacro.org.uk

Notes to Editors

1. Nacro, the national crime reduction charity, works with disadvantaged people, deprived communities and ex-offenders to give them a positive stake in society. It has unrivalled expertise in developing practical responses to crime and stimulating fresh thinking on how best to reduce it through policy, research and campaign work. Nacro runs preventive projects to steer young people away from crime, provides housing, education and employment programmes for ex-offenders and people at risk of offending, resettles prisoners into the community and works with families and communities to prevent crime. Every year Nacro works directly with over 90,000 people and many more benefit from our work with local, regional and national partners to help reduce crime. To find out more and for access to online information resources, please visit: www.nacro.org.uk