‘Improving the life chances of children who offend: A summary of common factors’ aims to support all practitioners, managers and policy makers involved in improving the life chances of children.
The paper, which was first published in October 2019, was produced by the Improving Life Chances Implementation Group on behalf of the Youth Justice Improvement Board, which was responsible for supporting the Scottish Government’s 2015-2020 youth justice strategy Preventing Offending: Getting it right for children and young people.
To ensure the information is shared in a compelling and accessible way, an updated version of the report with infographics was published in October 2020.
The group focused on six key themes, on which the paper is based:
- School inclusion
- Strengthening relationships and engagement
- Victims and community confidence
- Improving health and wellbeing
- Opportunities for all
- Transitions
Gill Robinson, Chair of the Improving Life Chances Implementation Group and Professional Advisor, Scottish Prison Service, explained:
“When reflecting on their practice with young people and on the findings from research, members of the group realised that particular factors consistently came through as being associated with improved outcomes for children and young people. The group wanted to share these factors as widely and straightforwardly as possible. I hope that readers will find this new edition useful and engaging and that children and young people will benefit as a result.”