Relative to those who first offend in adolescence, younger children who offend are at increased risk of engaging in serious, persistent, and violent offending. In addition, these children are at risk of a range of adverse psychosocial outcomes across the lifespan. Early intervention with children at risk of offending is therefore critical to support children to thrive and reduce offending and victimisation rates. This study sought to explore the backgrounds and experiences of children who offend prior to the age of 14 years to shed light on the development of child offending and assist early intervention efforts. Interviews with family members (with lived experience of interacting with the child welfare and child offending system) and frontline child welfare and judicial professionals (who directly engage with children who offend) (n = 33) were conducted. Their experiences show that children who offend have clear, significant, and unaddressed child welfare concerns, including growing up in poverty and experiencing abuse, which cumulatively impacts on children's normative development and can eventually culminate in offending. Participants called for urgent action to address the sociostructural concerns that underlie child welfare concerns and provide prompt and effective assistance to families in need to support children to thrive and prevent future victimisation.

中文翻译：

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“犯罪不是凭空发生的”：14 岁以下儿童犯罪的背景和经历

相对于那些在青春期首次犯罪的人，犯罪的年幼儿童从事严重、持续和暴力犯罪的风险增加。此外，这些儿童在整个生命周期中都面临着一系列不良心理社会后果的风险。因此，对有犯罪风险的儿童进行早期干预对于支持儿童茁壮成长并降低犯罪率和受害率至关重要。本研究旨在探讨 14 岁之前犯罪的儿童的背景和经历，以阐明儿童犯罪的发展并协助早期干预工作。采访家庭成员（有与儿童福利和儿童犯罪系统互动的生活经验）和一线儿童福利和司法专业人员（直接与犯罪儿童接触）（n  = 33) 进行。他们的经验表明，犯罪儿童有明确、重要且未解决的儿童福利问题，包括在贫困中成长和遭受虐待，这些累积影响儿童的规范发展，最终可能导致犯罪。与会者呼吁采取紧急行动，解决儿童福利问题背后的社会结构问题，并为有需要的家庭提供及时有效的援助，以支持儿童茁壮成长并防止未来受害。