Understanding and Addressing Health Determinants of Adolescent Criminalisation

A recent review (Hughes et al, 2020) highlighted a range of difficulties in health and development in childhood or adolescence that have been shown to increase the risk that a young person will be exposed to the criminal justice system. Such determinants include neurodevelopmental disability, acquired brain injury, poor mental health, trauma, and experiences of adverse childhood experiences, such as maltreatment. Furthermore, the risk of exposure to the criminal justice system seems to be amplified by social marginalisation and inequality, such that young people are made susceptible to criminal behaviour and criminalisation by a combination of health difficulties and social disadvantages. Understandings of such ‘health determinants of criminalisation’ among adolescents provide a persuasive case for policy and practice reform, including for investment in approaches to prevent criminalisation on the basis of health and developmental difficulties, and to better address related needs once within a criminal justice system.

Despite the strengthening understandings of the influence of health and development on adolescent criminal justice involvement, there remain significant gaps in knowledge and understanding, including, but not restricted to:

- Evidence from low and middle income countries (Murray and Atilola, 2020);
- Prevalence studies among criminal justice populations in relation to some specific experiences or conditions;
- Whether such determinants are equally apparent in relation to victimisation;
- Explanations of the relationships between specific determinants and criminal justice involvement;
- Evidence of effective support or interventions to address criminalisation or access to justice;
- The potential of international human rights frameworks to challenge current criminal justice approaches (e.g. Hughes et al, 2020b);
- The experiences of young people impacted by difficulties in health or development within the criminal justice system.

We welcome submissions across the broadest interpretation of these issues, and from a wide range of disciplines of relevance to health, child development, crime and criminal justice. Please feel free to send queries, idea or abstracts to [email protected] prior to submission.

References (note all are free to access by registering on the Lancet website):

Hughes, N., Ungar, M., Fagan, A., Murray, J., Atilola, O., Nichols, K., Garcia, J. and Kinner, S., 2020. Health determinants of adolescent criminalisation. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(2), pp.151-162. https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanchi/PIIS2352-4642(19)30347-5.pdf

Hughes, N., Sheahan, F., Williams, W.H. and Chitsabesan, P., 2020. Ensuring the rights of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities within child justice systems. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(2), pp.163-166. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(19)30401-8/fulltext

Murray, J. and Atilola, O., 2020. Determinants of youth crime in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(2), pp.96-98. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(19)30378-5/fulltext

Prof. Nathan Hughes
Guest Editor

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• young people
• criminal behaviour
• criminalisation
• health and disability
• adverse childhood experiences