Theories concerned with how and why individuals become criminals have been circulating since the late nineteenth century and range from physiological reasons to issues concerned with the community and social problems. One such discussion point for the former is the impact of problems in the family environment as being the cause of offender behaviour in childhood, adolescence and beyond into adulthood. In practice, it becomes clear that these problems are a significant cause of delinquency and criminality, and whilst they may not be held entirely to account for the behaviour of the individual, their impact certainly doesn’t help the situation. On study carried out by Brown et al. in 1992 led them to draw the conclusion that, “early intervention with high risk youths and their families is needed to address effectively their problems and troubled behaviour before drug use and delinquent careers become firmly established.” (Brown et al, 1992, p245). Equally, in another study carried out by Donker et al. in 2011, of the 2076 child subjects they assessed, 1335 of them reported on their delinquent behaviour some twenty-four years later (Donker et al, 2011, p187). Clearly, the links between problems in childhood and the family and criminality are there, suggesting that the crux of the problem is the family – a situation which needs addressing.
