New data published by the Office for National Statistics has found that children in care were more at risk of interacting with the criminal justice system during early adulthood than their peers. More than half (52%) of looked-after children had a criminal conviction by the age of 24 years compared with 13% of children who had not been in care.
The analysis examines the social background of care-experienced young people who were imprisoned at any point up to the age of 24 years. It focuses on a single cohort of individuals born in 1993 to 1994 who undertook at least part of their schooling in England