Ann Hagell and Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent (eds), Children Who Commit Acts of Serious Interpersonal Violence: Messages for Best Practice

Excerpt

Children Who Commit Acts of Serious Interpersonal Violence: Messages for Best Practice, edited by Ann Hagell and Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent, seeks to identify the characteristics and risk factors facing hard to place adolescents. To do so, the editors examine the multiple factors that lead children to commit serious crimes, the different methods for treating and preventing such acts and the proper techniques for potential rehabilitation. The text stems from research conducted by The Bridge Child Care Development Service in 2001, which looks at the physical and emotional needs of violent adolescents in the U.K. Although originating from a U.K. based study, the text draws from research dealing with violent adolescents conducted in the United States, Netherlands, Greece, Poland and Russia. The central idea behind this text is how dealing with serious violent adolescents is an ongoing “process” that must examine the specific actions of a child rather than looking at and categorizing the individual. Through identifying risk factors in environmental and biological influences, they seek to provide evidence that could be used to predict the behaviors of children and establish the proper form of intervention that is narrowly tailored to meet the needs of each child. …