Educational attendance and offending outcomes.

Henderson, Gillian; Rogon, Paul; Kurlus, Indiya; Henderson, Sarah; Woods, Ruth

Abstract

This is the last in a series of seven research reports on the effectiveness of Compulsory Supervision Orders where the child remains at home with their parent(s) (home CSOs). In the Children’s Hearings System, the most common legal measure made for 12 to 16 years olds is to be ‘looked after’ at home on a CSO. In 2020, home CSOs accounted for 46% of all the 8,875 CSOs in place, meaning that 4,071 children in Scotland were looked after at home. The most common reasons for these home CSOs to be made are that the child is not going to school or is committing offences. This research looked at the effectiveness of home CSOs in improving school attendance and in reducing the volume and gravity of offending. The sample comprised of 172 children from across Scotland. Data on school attendance, numbers of offences and gravity of offences were collected at three time points – pre-home CSO and one and two years after it was made - and analysed using inferential statistics. There was a significant increase in school attendance from a mean of 45% attendance before the home CSO to 57% after a year. There were no significant changes in the volume and gravity of children’s offending after their home CSOs were made. The circumstances of these children are more complex than them simply not going to school or committing offences. There were concerns for these children across all aspects of their wellbeing, some of which were about the children’s own behaviour but most related to how they were cared for and treated by others. For the children in this study, their home CSOs were made when their truancy or offending were already entrenched. That their home CSOs resulted in significant improvements in school attendance indicates that this intervention can be successful. It is more difficult to determine the efficacy of home CSOs in addressing children’s offending.

Citation

HENDERSON, G., ROGON, P., KURLUS, I., HENDERSON, S. and WOODS, R. 2021. Educational attendance and offending outcomes. Home compulsory supervision orders: effectiveness of decision making and outcomes, Report 7. Stirling: SCRA [online]. Available from: https://www.scra.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Report-7-Offending-and-Education-May-2021.pdf

• Report Type: Research Report
• Online Publication Date: May 28, 2021
• Publication Date: May 31, 2021
• Deposit Date: Feb 22, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 4, 2022
• Publisher: Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA)
• Series Title: Home compulsory supervision orders: effectiveness of decision making and outcomes
• Series Number: Report 7
• Keywords: Compulsory supervision orders (CSOs); Children's hearings systems; Children; Scotland; Offending; Truancy
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1352089
• Publisher URL: https://www.scra.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Report-7-Offending-and-Education-May-2021.pdf
• Related Public URLs: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1602865 ; https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1602887; https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1602912; https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1615480; https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1615514