Preventing involvement in crime

In order to prevent your child getting into trouble with the law, it’s important to understand the reasons why most young people offend in the first place.

Why do children commit crime?

There is generally no simple reason why children become involved in offending. However we do know that a number of things can act together to make children more likely to commit crime.

These things include:

not doing well in school
truanting from school
difficult family relationships
lack of boundaries and parental supervision
having friends who commit crime
drug and alcohol misuse
mental health issues, such as attention deficient and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Role of parents

Parents are generally the most important people in their children’s lives. Their views and behaviours can have a good or bad influence on their children’s behaviour including offending behaviour.

Children are much less likely to get into trouble if their parents:

have a good relationship with them and can talk openly with them
can agree sensible clear rules and encourage them to stick to them as much as possible
know where they are and what they are up to

School and community

Children are also less likely to get into trouble if their parent have an interest in their school life, good relationships with teachers and can ensure that they go to school as often as possible.

Children are less likely to offend if their parents can help them to become involved in activities or interests in their local community. This can include youth clubs, sports clubs, uniformed groups and church groups.

Additional help

There might be times that despite their best efforts, or because they find it difficult to give their children the support they need, parents need some extra support to help keep their children out of trouble.

At times like these it may be helpful for parents to ask for some help for a time from others, including their GP, Social Services or Education Welfare Services.

There are also a number of services which work with children aged 8 to 13 years olds who are at a high risk of offending. They also work with parents to help prevent their children becoming involved in crime or to help them stop it at an early stage.

These services include:

Northern Area Early Intervention Project (Northern Trust)

9-11 Upper Main Street
Larne
BT40 4JW

Tel: 028 2826 3377

Strength 2 Strength (Western Trust)

Extern
Holywell House
10-12 Bishop Street
Londonderry
BT48 6PW

Tel: 028 7126 2104

Strength 2 Strength (South Eastern Trust)

Extern
Ards Development Bureau
43-45 Frances Street
Newtownards
BT23 7DX

Tel: 028 9181 4625

Child and Parent Support Project (Belfast Trust)

NIACRO
4-8 Amelia Street
Belfast
BT2 7GS

Tel: 028 9032 0157

Child and Parent Support Project (Southern Trust)

NIACRO

1A Russell Street
Armagh
BT61 9AA

Tel: 028 3751 1433

Finally

Please remember, many children have problems during their childhood but most of these do not go on to commit crime. The majority of those who do commit crime do not commit serious or multiple offences.

Even those who do commit serious or multiple offences tend to eventually grow out of it. The support of parents is probably the most important thing in helping children to stay out of trouble or to help them out of it if they become involved.