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Children, Parenting and Education:
Addressing the Causes of Offending
Dr Cindy Kiro
Children’s Commissioner
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Introduction
• Origins of Offending
• The Evidence
– Longitudinal Studies
– Neuroscience
• Early intervention
• Implications for Parenting and Parent Education
Photographs sourced and used with
permission from:
- Taonga Education Centre
- Kawerau South School
- Young People’s Reference Group
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Characteristics of children and
young people who offend
• Longitudinal studies identify a small but distinct group who
are in serious difficulty by adolescence:
“From kohanga or kindy on he has defied adults, lied,
stolen maybe set fires, hit other children, is cruel to
animals, verbally abuses all who frustrate him, bullies,
intimidates peers, siblings and as we heard recently
teachers and other adults as well.” (Professor John Werry)
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Red Flags
• History of serious antisocial acts
• Regular use of substances
• Hyperactivity and impulsivity
• History of aggression
• Being male
(Kaye McLaren, 2007)
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Risk Factors – Family
• Socioeconomic adversity
• Parental change and conflict
• Lack of supervision
• Lack of warmth and affection
• Harsh discipline and abuse
• Parental characteristics:
– criminal/antisocial behaviour
– substance abuse
– young mother
– unemployment
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Risk Factors – Individual
• Poor vocabulary and
communication
• Lower than average IQ
• Poor literacy skills
• High level of novelty and thrill
seeking
www.dalhartpolice.com
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Risk Factors - Social
• Peer rejection
• Deviant peers
• Community norms and levels of
crime
Photograph used with permission
Kawerau South School
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Risk Factors form Social Maps
• Cover multiple domains
• Children’s social maps
• Cultural blueprints of what is normal,
what is obvious, and what is
impossible
• When children are labelled as
offenders or severe conduct disorder
they become the problem
Photograph used with permission Kawerau South School
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Neuroscience
• Only the brainstem is fully developed at birth
• Rapid growth over first three years
• Sequential and use-dependent
• Different areas are developing at different times
• Disruptions of experience-dependent
neurochemical signals may lead to major
abnormalities or deficits in neurodevelopment
• Environment is crucial and primary caregiver is is
the major provider of environmental cues
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Attachment and Brain Development
• The quality of the attachment relationship has
been linked to different aspects of brain
development:
– Attaining complexity through differentiation of
specific components and integration into a
functioning whole
– Emotional self-regulation
– Reflective capacity
Photograph Used With Permission
Taonga Education Centre
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Internal Working Models of
Attachment
• Attachment relationships provide the context for the
development of internal working models
• These shape views of self, others and the world
• They incorporate:
– Capacity for self-regulation
– Ability to reflect on internal states of self and others
– Mental representations of self and others
– Strategies for managing relationship experiences
Titiro Whakatau Ano’ - Thomas Lauterbach
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Impact of Trauma
• Brain adapts to a state of fear-related elevation
leading to adaptations in emotional, behavioural
and cognitive functioning in order to survive
• Persistent trauma leads to:
– Hypervigilance
– Anxiety
– Elevated heart rate
– Elevated levels of stress related hormones
Inspirationoflyric.wordpress.com
– impulsivity
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Patterns of Attachment
• Four patterns:
– Secure
– Insecure ambivalent
– Insecure avoidant
– Disorganised
• Secure provides the context for optimal development Photo used with permission
Kawerau South School
• Ambivalent and avoidant represent infant’s capacity to adapt to
less than optimal environments
• Disorganised develops in the context of neglect and/or abuse
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Impact of Internal Working Models
• Continue to influence us throughout life
• Evidence of inter-generational transmission
• Link between unresolved attachment issues and
patterns of abuse of children
• Strong association between disorganised attachment
and behavioural difficulties in childhood and later life
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Children with Disorganised
Attachment
• Unlikely to trust adults
• Inability to internalise rules that govern daily existence means
that behaviour is determined by reaction to external cues
• Lack of trust in adults means they have no incentive to comply
with requests or instructions
• May resent and resist any attempts by adults to control them
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Disorganised Attachment
• May be labelled ADHD
• Short attention span, high levels of activity and limited social skills
present major obstacles to learning
• When this is the result of abuse, behaviour results from hyper-arousal
and this must be lowered before children are accessible to intervention
• Decreased arousal is unlikely to occur until child has developed a
sense of security
• Without effective early intervention these children are frequently in
serious difficulty by adolescence
– Increased rates of psychopathology and violent crime
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Link with Resilience
• Not all children ‘at risk’ fare badly
• Four crucial factors:
– Individual attributes
– Family support
– Community support, person or agency
– Cultural connection
• The most resilient children have access to all
four but any one can make a difference
• Resilience is not an isolated individual
characteristic
• Secure and consistent attachment facilitates Photo used with permission Kawerau South School
resilience across all four domains
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Patterns of Attachment and
Resilience
• Secure at an advantage - positive expectations of self and
others, access to supportive adults and connections beyond
family
• Avoidant and ambivalent may lack self-confidence, have low
self-esteem and difficulty negotiating relationships, but do have
coping strategies
• Disorganised, have no coping strategy and are the most
vulnerable
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Potential for change
• Attachment patterns become entrenched when the internal
working models formed in the early years are reinforced by
children’s experiences in the world beyond home
• Children with insecure and disorganised patterns are likely to
encounter rejection and censure from peers, teachers and other
adults
• Negative outcomes are not inevitable – good evidence that
change is possible
• Change must be facilitated through relationships – early and
effective intervention is the key
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Early Child Development
Education Health Social Capital Equality
Economic Growth
Human Development
From Early Child Development to Human Development:
Investing in our Children’s Future
The World Bank 2002, pg 74
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Source: Pedro Carneiro and James Heckman (2003)
Herald graphic 23.05.03
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Implications for Parenting
• Children begin their lives entirely dependent
on adults for survival
• Behaviour of those who care for them contributes to
far more than their physical survival
• Quality of children’s relationships provides the
framework for the exponential development that
occurs in the early years
• Important to consider the role of parent education
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Universal Parent Education
• Parental awareness of the significance of the early years
and benefits for children from responsive, consistent and
stable care
• Information about brain development and foundational
nature of early experience has significant implications for
parental decision-making about childcare and
employment
• Given that parenting is not generally regarded as
productive in the same way as employment such
information may be validating for parents, encouraging
investment in their children
• Universal services such as Plunket most likely to be
accessed by motivated parents and need to be
Photograph Used With Permission
Taonga Education Centre supplemented by outreach to marginalised families
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Challenging Behaviour
• When children behave in challenging ways
their behaviour becomes the focus of
attention
• Emphasis is often on management and
control with less attention to the causes of
such behaviour
• Children’s behaviour is a form of
communication
• Sometimes adults forget to look beyond the
presentation and inquire about what is being
communicated
Photograph Used With Permission
Taonga Education Centre
• Early intervention can be facilitated through
provision of family support centres or service
hubs
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Intensive Intervention
• More focused programmes are needed for those families in
greatest difficulty
• Children at risk of negative outcomes fall between the gaps
• Access to specialist services depends on how behaviour is
labelled and perceptions may differ
• Too often opportunities for early intervention are overlooked
• Home visiting services such as Family Start have much to offer
• More intensive services with capacity to provide in-home
support and education are also needed
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
Conclusion
• Parent education is not a magic bullet
• An integrated approach is needed to improve the social
and economic circumstances of children and families
• Close working relationship between criminal and social
policy and early intervention is needed
• Failure to achieve this increases the risk that the criminal
justice system ends up punishing those who are
themselves the victims of social and economic
circumstances
Photographs Used With Permission Photograph used with permission Young People’s Reference Group
Taonga Education Centre Kawerau South School
Institute of Policy Studies Forum
Addressing the Underlying Causes of Offending: What is the Evidence?
26–28 February 2009
