"All five-year-olds should be screened for early signs of offending behaviour to prevent youngsters later becoming criminals under plans put forward by a Scottish Executive-backed expert group. Under the proposals, pre-school services and nursery schools will assess five-year-olds to identify troubled or troublesome families and signs of substance misuse and violence in the home. The aim is to identify vulnerable children early, offer improved support to the family and hopefully turn young people away from crime...
Cathy Jamieson, the Justice Minister, yesterday welcomed the Youth Justice Improvement Group (YJIG) report and launched a blueprint to overhaul services on the back of its recommendations. Her response includes a call to: "Identify children at risk of future or further offending or other poor outcomes and take action early to improve their situation."
I am sure that the YJIG means well. But I remain uncomfortable about the proposals. Are the people working in nurseries and pre-school services equipped with the training and ability to screen kids in the manner proposed? And, if they are not to carry out the task, who is? How do you avoid stigmatising those kids who 'fail' the screening? And are the social services resourced to provide the additional support promised? Is there any evidence that this approach will work? Are there no plans for pilot trials of the scheme? Or are we just rushing ahead regardless?
And the proposals have a hint of unjustified determinism. Is it really true that you can identify the bad apples at the age of five?
1 comment:
"I am sure that the YJIG means well."
This in no way negates the many (entirely justifiable) criticisms you make make of the scheme. Good intent, in itself, is just not good enough. The intention to do good does not necessarily result in a good result. Nor do good intentions automatically grant the moral authority to intervene.
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