Tackling anti-social behaviour in playground 'could halve crime'

Action can stop delinquent children turning into adult criminals, report says

Crime in Britain could be halved if deviant behaviour in early childhood were tackled more effectively, a radical report suggests today.

Eight out of ten crimes are committed by people who displayed anti-social or deviant behaviour as children. Yet research shows that identifying potential future criminals in childhood and intervening early can dramatically reduce the chances of offending in later life. The report, published by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, says that simple measures, such as offering support to parents, can prevent delinquent children becoming adult criminals and cut offending by up to 50 per cent. It found that one in 20 children demonstrates persistent disobedience, lying, fighting and stealing that is serious enough to warrant the label "conduct disorder." Those children go on to commit 30 per cent of all crime as adults, at an annual cost to society of £22bn. A further 45 per cent of children who have mild or moderate conduct problems go on to commit half of all crime, costing £37bn a year.

Andy Bell, deputy director of the Sainsbury Centre, said: "There is a such a strong continuity between conduct problems in small children and criminal behaviour in adulthood. We are not suggesting medical treatment for young children – this is mainly about giving parents support and training to do something about it. It may sound potentially Orwellian but it is also remarkable that we are allowing this to happen."

The report, The Chance of a Lifetime, says that the best schemes for children with behavioural problems, mostly pioneered in the US, have achieved remarkable long-term results. The Highscope Perry Preschool programme, established in the 1960s for poor black American children in Michigan, found that by age 27 those in the programme had accumulated half as many arrests as a control group who had no support.

A second scheme targeting poor first-time mothers more than halved the number of arrests among their children 15 years later, and cut convictions by more than two-thirds. In the UK, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has issued guidance on managing conduct disorder in children with estimated costs of up to £4,000 a child. The potential benefits of treatment are estimated at £225,000 per child, including £160,000 in reduced offending.

Sean Duggan, chief executive of the Sainsbury Centre, said: "One US scheme has been shown to reduce the costs of crime by $11 for every $1 invested. Early intervention of this kind will reduce the risk of future offending and give young children born today the chance of a better life."

The study won the backing yesterday of charities and organisations for offenders and young people with mental problems. Lucie Russell, director of campaigns at Young Minds, the charity for young people with mental problems, said: "This is not about labelling bad parents, it is about acknowledging that all of us [parents] don't know what we are doing. Intervention early on is going to save money and the lives of young people who would otherwise end up in custody later. You can reject this as a Big Brother approach or accept it as the reality."