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.

“Research has also found that the impact of parental separation by imprisonment has poorer outcomes for children in terms of future offending behaviour than separation by any other means such as death or divorce,” said Siobhan O’Dwyer of the Northern Ireland Association of Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO), who presented the research based on a number of previous studies.

The conference, entitled Sharing the Task, Achieving Child Protection and Welfare through Inter-Agency Working, brought together a number of experts to discuss what support can be put in place to ensure the children of criminals have better outcomes in their own lives.

Ms O’Dwyer said there is a cycle of criminal activity that goes from one generation to another: “Most statutory agencies do not recognise the impact on children of family members in prison. Social services, health, education and policing are not linked up in terms of support services for children and families of those in custody. We need to prevent this cycle from happening. We need to integrate support services to identify children and families of prisoners and work to reduce the risk of children offending and re-offending, which is often the case,” she said.

The conference also heard that the Juvenile Diversion Programme — which aims to prevent young criminals from becoming more involved in crime — is working well but needs more resources.

A solicitor specialising in the area of child law, Catherine Ghent, said: “This programme needs to be expanded and there is a need for more community policing.

“Children are not regarded equally in the Constitution. They are protected under different articles. Discrimination is evident in certain cases, which at times works in favour of children whose parents are married and at times in favour of those who aren’t,” she said.