NCJ Number
118638
Date Published
1987
Length
232 pages
Annotation
This study investigated 300 English children who had been brought up in the inner city, who were born between 1944 and 1953, and who lived in socially and often emotionally deprived circumstances to compare their adult outcomes with childhood experiences and environments.
Abstract
Children in England's Child Care system were divided into three major categories: children whose parents were unable or unwilling to provide adequate care; boys who were 8 years of age and older on admission to Child Care and who were either officially delinquent or beyond parental control; and other children, mainly school nonattenders. Forty-one percent of the sample were convicted of theft in adult life, 24 percent of breaking and entering, and 26 percent of crimes involving violence or aggression to the person. In terms of adult crime, boys who stayed longest in Child Care did relatively well. Those who came into Child Care later, for reasons of delinquency, did poorly. Children admitted to Child Care early in life and then discharged home also did poorly. When boys admitted to Child Care before 4 years of age were divided into those who remained in care and those who returned home, a poor outcome was almost exclusively confined to those who returned home. There was no association between having a greater than average number of placements in Child Care and having more convictions as adult life. About 14 percent of 117 girls had convictions as adults. Girls with less time in Child Care were more delinquent than girls with more time, a finding similar to that for boys. The results suggest that foster care and small group living arrangements may provide an adequate upbringing for children. Appendixes contain a seriousness of crime scale and a checklist of antisocial behavior problems. 233 references, 57 tables, 1 figure.