Children who kill other children achieve brief but terrible notoriety, and the criminal cases that result will on occasions throw government policy off balance because of what they seem to say about the fault lines in society.
The reality is that a very small number of young people belong to a demanding group who are described as being a danger to themselves and others. They are particularly difficult to deal with because their predicament is invariably complex and they are as likely to be the victims of neglect and abuse as the perpetrators of violence.
The effectiveness of prevention and treatment strategies is the focus of a new collection of papers by behavioral psychologist Ann Hagell and her UK colleague Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent, whose own involvement in an inquiry into the murder of a boy by another young person in 2001 convinced her of the need to take stock of current best practice.
Early sections of their book helpfully set out the risk factors against different headings such as family, school, peers, neighborhood. They then appraise them in terms of when they are salient in young people’s lives and the extent of their effects. No single key factor emerges an accumulation is shown strongly to increase the risk of serious problems.
Other contributions examine the needs of children who sexually abuse or murder noting importantly that studies of referred populations – which are the basis for these chapters – are limited by a lack of comparison data on normal populations. Not surprisingly, such studies show high levels of psychological disturbance, but they fail to show how unusual this is and whether there are otherwise similar children who do not display high-level antisocial behavior.
The second part discusses the evidence of what works in terms of intervention strategies and day-to-day care management. For example, Ann Hagell and Patricia Moran stress the importance of the latter, and highlight practical concerns around the provision of suitable accommodation and training, and supporting foster carers. Without having the basics in place, structured interventions will struggle to make much impact.
The interesting observation is also made that while little is known about how the content of interventions with serious antisocial behavior (eg. violent and chronic offenders) should differ from those intended to tackle less serious problems, intensity and duration of ‘treatment’ are important. Arguably, the broader lessons here for children’s services practitioners and policy makers are to have realistic expectations (in this case of reducing rather than eliminating bad behavior) and to match services to need.
Those who want a magic pill to help dangerous children will not find one here. Contributors are careful to emphasize that such a high-risk group is difficult to diagnose (prior to behaving dangerously) and hard to place; they also require an enormous amount of time, energy and resources.
Rooted in high quality research, this book is well-structured, thoroughly referenced and consistently clear. It makes an important contribution to furthering best practice with dangerous and potentially dangerous children.
Children Who Commit Acts of Serious Interpersonal Violence: Messages for Best Practice, Ann Hagell and Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent (Eds.) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, UK, 2006, 256pp, £19.99 (Pbk)