Professional perceptions of the care-crime connection: Risk, marketisation and a failing system
| Author | Sarah Greenhow,Julie Shaw |
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895819877441 |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895819877441
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2021, Vol. 21(4) 472 –488
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895819877441
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Professional perceptions of
the care-crime connection:
Risk, marketisation and a
failing system
Julie Shaw
Sarah Greenhow
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Abstract
Reporting the findings from an English study of practitioners working within multi-agency settings,
this article will explore their perceptions of the factors that contribute to the criminalisation of
children in care. The findings support the contention that children get into trouble as a consequence
of a number of system level deficiencies, along with a defensive, risk averse approach to practice
which permeates throughout children’s social care and criminal justice agencies. The impact of an
under-confident and transient residential care workforce is discussed, along with the privatisation of
children’s home provision. Yet while residential care was confirmed as being the more problematic
environment, children in foster care were not immune to unnecessary criminalisation. Unchanged,
this will continue to produce negative outcomes in terms of criminalisation, the longer term effects
of which will impact the life-chances of young people for years to come.
Keywords
Children in care, criminalisation, looked after children, marketisation, risk-averse practice
Introduction
The need to prevent children in out of home care from disproportionately coming to the
attention of the youth justice system is a long-standing issue both in England and
Corresponding author:
Julie Shaw, School of Justice Studies, Liverpool John Moores University, John Foster Building, 80-98 Mount
Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5UZ, UK.
Email: J.Shaw@ljmu.ac.uk
877441CRJ0010.1177/1748895819877441Criminology & Criminal JusticeShaw and Greenhow
research-article2019
Article
Shaw and Greenhow 473
internationally (e.g. Colvin et al., 2018; Howard League for Penal Reform, 2018;
Laming, 2016; McFarlane, 2017; Richards and Renshaw, 2013; Shaw, 2014; Stanley,
2017; Turpel-Lafond, 2009). However, in recent years, there has been an increasing
momentum to address this problem, reflected in England by the high-profile Prison
Reform Trust independent review chaired by Lord Laming (2016) and an ongoing cam-
paign conducted by the Howard League for Penal Reform to end the criminalisation of
children in residential care (Howard League for Penal Reform, 2016, 2017a, 2017b,
2018). The following article reports upon and discusses current research conducted with
professionals from across a range of social work and criminal justice agencies in the
North West of England. The study explored the key factors that contribute to children in
care getting into trouble; the effectiveness of current responses to these issues, and the
challenges that professionals face. The article begins by detailing how the study was
informed by a range of empirical research and recent reports. It then briefly describes the
research methodology, before reporting the results of the study and finally considering
how the issue might be addressed.
A range of terminology is currently used in England to describe children in care. A
number of the research participants used the expression ‘looked-after’ children, which is
a term (sometimes abbreviated to LAC) introduced by the Children Act 1989. However,
the expression ‘in care’ tends to be used in wider society, with the term ‘looked-after’
children (or increasingly ‘children looked-after’ or CLA) applied mainly in official/pro-
fessional circles. The terms ‘looked-after children’, ‘children in care’ and CLA are used
at various points throughout the article.
Each UK nation has a slightly different definition of a ‘looked-after child’ and follows
its own legislation, policy and guidance (NSPCC, 2018). However, in England, around
three quarters of children in care live with foster parents, with approximately 11% living
in residential children’s homes, secure units and semi-independent living accommoda-
tion. Most children are ‘looked-after’ under the auspices of a compulsory care order
(section 31 of the 1989 Children Act) where they have suffered or are at risk of suffering
likely ‘significant harm’. However, they can also be voluntarily accommodated (section
20 of the 1989 Children Act). Here, their parents continue to have parental responsibility
and, in theory at least, should continue to play a major role. There were approximately
73,000 children in care on 31 March 2018 in England and Wales (1% of all children),
with 60% looked after by the state due to abuse or neglect and have a range of complex
needs (behavioural, emotional and social difficulties) (Department for Education (DfE),
2018b; Ofsted, 2018a).
Setting the scene
While 96% of children in care in England do not get in trouble with the law, they are
nevertheless currently five times more likely to be cautioned or convicted of an offence
than other children (DfE, 2018b; Laming, 2016). Furthermore, these data are limited by
the fact that it is only based on those looked after continuously for 12 months or more,
meaning that the true figure is unknown. In addition, children in care who come to police
attention may have a higher risk of being convicted as opposed to being cautioned com-
pared to other children (Laming, 2016). Similarly, Staines (2016) highlights that while
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