Official data suggests that the number of children involved in offending has reduced
significantly over the past ten years throughout the UK. Despite this reduction, there is a small, but substantial, percentage of children who present a risk of serious harm to others. To date there has been little examination of the nature and prevalence of the violent behaviour children engage in
within Scotland. However, regular access to this type of information is crucial for both service
planning and monitoring of the effectiveness of efforts to reduce violence.
This report, written by Carole Murphy, examines the experiences, needs and nature of violent behaviour presented by a sample of children referred to the Intervention for Vulnerable Youth (IVY) project. Additionally, 23 practitioner responses to a survey regarding risk practice were examined.