The Soical Work Blog takes a look at yesterday’s survey of young people involved in Positive Futures:
This week the results of a survey by the Positive Futures social inclusion programme revealed that 42% of disadvantaged young people admitted starting drinking alcohol before they were 13. Hmm, it is starting to become clear. I am not alone.
One in four said their excesses had got them into trouble with the police. Admittedly, there may have been an element of bravado in answering this question. After all, there is nothing like a brush with the cops to grant you that teen badge of honour.
But it is also worth remembering that the police now have the power to take alcohol away from children. It is hardly on the scale of Viking-style pillage, but to a young person that encounter with authority may feel like crime of the century – hence the apparently high number of would-be felons challenging for that badge.
It’s also picked up by Children and Young People Now:
National youth inclusion programme, Positive Futures, quizzed 1,250 young people on its programmes about their attitudes to alcohol. 40 per cent of respondents claimed they started drinking because their friends did.
Filed under: alcohol , Crime Concern, Positive Futures
