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Research suggests that convicted persons are more likely than non-convicted persons to suffer poor health. However, few longitudinal studies have investigated associations between health and offending across generations. Using the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, this article prospectively investigates the relationship between health and offending across generations and between genders. At the average age of 25, third generation convicted males and females reported a higher incidence of serious drug use than non-convicted persons. Convicted males reported a higher incidence of mental illness and self-harm, whereas convicted females reported a lower incidence of physical illness, mental illness, self-harm and hospitalizations when compared to non-convicted females. Convicted males reported a higher incidence of industrial accidents, sports injuries and fight injuries, but a lower incidence of road accidents, whereas convicted females were more likely to report road accidents. Like their fathers, convicted males show worse health compared to non-convicted individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An up‐to‐date and accurate picture of the evidence on the impact of poverty is a necessary element of the debate about the future direction of children's social care services internationally. The purpose of this paper is to update evidence about the relationship between poverty and child abuse and neglect (CAN) published since a previous report in 2016 (Bywaters et al., 2016). A systematic search was conducted, identifying seven reviews. Poverty was found to be consistently and strongly associated with maltreatment, be that in terms of familial or community‐level poverty, or in terms of economic security. Findings demonstrated that both the type and the quantity of economic insecurities impacted child maltreatment. Certain economic insecurities – income losses, cumulative material hardship and housing hardship – reliably predicted future child maltreatment. Likewise, as families experienced more material hardship, the risk for maltreatment intensified. In some studies, the relationship between poverty and maltreatment differed by abuse type. Future reviews need to investigate individual papers and their findings across different CAN measures, definitions, samples, abuse types and conceptualisations of poverty to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current research base and the directions which need to be taken to further understand and prevent CAN. Key Practitioner Messages: Poverty should be a central theme in work with families, and visible in assessments, case conferences and court reports.Research indicates that child protection practices need to move away from a narrow focus on parental risk to harmful contexts and ways of addressing these in which society, communities and families can provide environments where harm is minimised, and children are enabled to flourish.Further research is needed to better understand the relationship between poverty and CAN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research shows that convicted and incarcerated persons tend to die early, but this research does not investigate the relationships between criminal career features and early death. The aim of this article is to utilize the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development longitudinal sample of males to study this; 54 males who died early (up to age 65) are compared with 332 males who did not emigrate and did not die early. The results show that convicted offenders, early onset offenders, recidivists and chronic offenders tended to die early, but there were relatively weak relationships between early death and life-course-persistent offenders and career duration. It is concluded that much more research on the relationship between early death and criminal career features is needed, and further tests of criminological theories need to take account of the time at risk of offending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to investigate the relationship between psychosocial risk factors at age 8-10, antisocial personality (ASP) at ages 18, 32 and 48, and poor health (based on self-reports and GP records). Using data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 South London males, we found that high ASP scores at ages 18, 32 and 48 were related to a high prevalence of hospitalization. We also found that, according to GP records, high ASP scores at age 32 were related to poor physical health, and high ASP scores at age 48 were related to more mental illness and disabling medical conditions. Of the age 8-10 risk factors, a convicted father and high daring significantly predicted self-reported hospitalization. Low family income significantly predicted GP-reported mental illness and disabling medical conditions. Some of the relationships with high ASP scores did not hold up after controlling for age 8-10 risk factors. Findings from this study are important for developing intervention and risk assessment plans. They also highlight the importance of longitudinal and life-course approaches in investigating the interface between antisocial personality, lifestyles and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study systematically assessed children's disclosure processes and lawyers' questioning about children's disclosures in the courtroom. We analysed transcripts of 72 trials in which 5- to 17-year-old children testified as alleged victims of sexual abuse and found that children typically delayed disclosing abuse for over 6 months, with the length of delay greater when the alleged perpetrator-victim relationships were closer. When questioning children about disclosure, prosecutors used more directive and option-posing questions, and sought to establish the plausibility, credibility, reliability, and consistency of children's disclosures. On the other hand, defence lawyers used more suggestive questions than prosecutors, and sought to undermine children's testimony by accusing them of lying or being coached. Children's responses to questions about their disclosure differed depending on who was questioning them: notably, children contradicted themselves more during cross-examinations than direct-examinations. Both prosecutors and defence lawyers tended to ask developmentally 'risky' questions, illustrating the difficulties that may arise when attempting to achieve a balance between securing accurate testimony and protecting the right of defendants to challenge the evidence against them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary explores the 'cost of poverty' for child development, with particular reference to the current UK context. Specifically, it comments on the adverse impacts of poverty on child mental health, education, and maltreatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.