One hundred girls in care referred to an adolescent forensic mental health service.
There is a paucity of literature relating to adolescent females who offend. This retrospective case note study of 100 consecutive referrals of girls aged 11-17 in care to an Adolescent Forensic Mental Health Service describes a group of disturbed girls at the extreme of the continuum. Sixty-eight girls had assaulted at least one person; a further 10 had caused damage to objects; 76 had deliberately harmed themselves; 90 had behaved in a way which was against the law in the 6 months prior to assessment, although only 42 had been charged with an offence. The referrers only correctly documented violent and aggressive behaviours in 54% of cases. Eleven girls had ever been statemented as having special educational needs. Seventy-one had been abused in some way, the majority having been multiply abused. Of the violent girls, 50% had misused substances. More abused girls had been violent to objects (49.3%) or set fires (21.1%). A high number of deliberately self-harming girls had a mental illness (13.6%), and a significantly high number of deliberately self-harming girls misused substances (50%) and had been sexually abused (53.9%). Areas for future research are discussed.
Jasper
A
A
Adolescent Forensic Service, Mental Health Services of Salford NHS Trust, Bury New Road, Manchester, M25 3BL, U.K.
Smith
C
C
Bailey
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*