90% of criminals’ children end up with a conviction

NINE out of 10 children of criminals end up with a conviction themselves, according to research presented at a conference yesterday examining the needs of young people whose parents are sent to prison.

The conference in Kilkenny, organised by the Children Acts Advisory Board (CAAB) — the body that advises the Government on policies relating to children at risk — heard that young people whose mother and father both have criminal convictions, have a 93% chance of committing a crime themselves.

If just one parent has a criminal conviction, the children have a 63% chance of becoming an offender.