Staying safe

Child protection

In 2006, there were 32,100 children on child protection registers in England, compared to 27,900 in 2005. Nearly half of children (44%) had been placed on the register because of neglect. Around a fifth of boys and girls on the register had experienced emotional abuse.

(Source: Social Trends, No. 38, 2008)

In 2006, over three-quarters (79%) of 14–15 year old young men 'browsed' the Internet without adult supervision. Since 2000 there has been a rise in the percentages of young people that report browsing the Internet without adult supervision.

(Source: Young People into 2007, Schools Health Education Unit, 2007)

Young runaways

The Social Exclusion Unit defines a runaway as 'a child aged under 18 who spends one night or more away from home or care without permission, or who has been forced to leave by their parents or carers'. There are no official statistics on young runaways but it is estimated that in the UK, 77,000 children and young people aged under 16 run away overnight each year. Running away is most common among young people aged between 13 and 15.

(Source: Working with Children 2006-7, NCH/SocietyGuardian, 2005)

Young carers

The 2001 Census shows that there are 5.8 million unpaid family carers in the UK, of which at least 175,000 are young carers aged under 18.  61,000 of young carers are aged 16-17 - 11,341 of which (one fifth) care for more than 20 hours each week and 4,406  (7%) care for more than 50 hours per week.  In total, there are 229,318 young adult carers (aged 18-24) in the UK which represents 5.3% (or five out of every 100) of the population in this age group.  One quarter of all young adult carers (56,069) are providing care for more than 20 hours per week and almost 27,000 (12%) are providing care for more than 50 hours per week.

(Source: Young Adult Carers in the UK: experiences, needs and services for carers aged 16-24.  The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, 2009).

Bullying

In 2005, more than 31,000 children and young people called ChildLine about bullying.

(Source: ChildLine)

In 2006, over a quarter (26%) of young women aged 12 to 13 reported being afraid of going to school because of bullying at least sometimes. 22% of 14-15 year old young men keep bullying problems ‘to themselves’ .

(Source: Young People into 2007, Schools Health Education Unit, 2007)

Fear of crime and anti-social behaviour

In 2006/07, 33% of people interviewed for the British Crime Survey said that young people hanging around on the streets was a big problem in their area, up from 32% in 2005/06.

In 2006/07, a third (30%) of young women aged 16 to 24 reported they were very worried about violent crime, compared to 13% of young men in the same age group. This contrasts with actual risk which for young women aged 16-24 in the 2006/07 British Crime Survey was 7%, compared with 14% for young men aged 16-24. 23% of young women aged 16 to 24 also thought that the crime rate in the country as a whole had risen a lot in the previous two years.

In 2006/07, young men, aged 16 to 24, were most at risk of being a victim of violent crime, with 13.8% experiencing a violent crime of some sort in the year prior to interview. This compares to a risk of 3.6% among the general population.

In 2006/07, over half (54% and 51%) of young men and women aged 16 to 24 were confident that the criminal justice system meets the needs of victims, compared with with 18% of men and 23% of women aged 65 to 74 years.

(Source: British Crime Survey 2006/07, Home Office, 2007)

In 2006, 18% of 14-15 year old young men were 'fairly sure' or 'certain' that friends carry weapons for protection when going out.

(Source: Young People into 2007, Schools Health Education Unit, 2007)

In 2007, an Ipsos MORI survey of 10-to-17-year-olds conducted for the Youth Justice Board, found that nearly two thirds (60%) would feel safer if more police patrolled the streets. Almost one in ten (38%) called for harsher punishments for young people who offend. 43% thought that boredom and a lack of things to do was the most likely reason for young people to offend.

(Source: Youth Justice Board, 2007).

In 2008, an online consultation of over 800 young people under 25, which explored the impact of gun and knife crime on young people and their local communities found:

• Over a quarter, (29%) had been affected by gun and knife crime
• 36% were worried about gangs in their area
• Only 28% said they feel very safe in their community, while 45% could not claim to feel safe at any time
• 41% know somebody who has been personally affected
• 63% stated a main reason they felt young people get involved in gun and knife crime was to protect themselves

(Source: 'Step inside our shoes': young people's views on gun and knife crime, NCH, 2008).