The ongoing overrepresentation of care-experienced children within the criminal justice system remains a concern; understanding their pathways into and through the system is essential to developing more effective and informed responses. This systematic review aimed to meta-synthesise the literature on care-experienced children’s journeys into and through the criminal justice system, drawing on the perspectives of the children and professionals who work with them. This review was pre-registered on Open Science Framework. Four electronic databases were searched on 14th August 2024. Inclusion criteria required studies to have a qualitative component exploring the perceptions of care-experienced individuals and/or professionals on the journeys of care-experienced children within the criminal justice system. Selected grey literature was included. Quantitative studies and studies focused only on children who entered care after criminal justice involvement were excluded. Twenty-six studies (21 datasets; n = 819 participants; 24 qualitative, two mixed methods) met the inclusion criteria. All studies were quality assessed using the CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme). The quality of studies varied, with 24 not reporting on the researcher-participant relationship.
Thematic synthesis identified five themes: 1) the search for belonging, 2) unresolved trauma, 3) systemic challenges fuel the criminalisation of care-experienced children, 4) fitting in a box: a limited view of care-experienced children, and 5) the complexity of intersectionality. A limitation of this study was the substantial absence of participant characteristic data across included studies. Limitations of the CASP tool for mixed-methods and grey literature were discussed. Recommendations included promoting trauma-informed approaches, belonging, and reducing unnecessary police involvement.
