Offending behaviour and mental ill-health among young people: Reducing recidivism requires integration with youth mental health care

A dolescence marks a challenging confluence, with the frequent onset of both offending behaviour and mental ill-health.Although repeated offending behaviour is limited to a small minority of young people, it is disproportionately associated with poorer life course outcomes, social costs, and community concerns.Each year, around 30 million people are incarcerated in the world's prisons [1].Based on 2019 United Nations (UN) data from 121 countries, 261 000 adolescents aged ≤17 years are detained on any given day, and a further 410 000 are held in detention or pre-sentence remand annually [2].Due to inaccurate and inconsistent reporting globally, these figures underestimate the scope of the problem.Most youth offending involves minor offences (e.g.property damage, theft); however, youth violence is the fourth leading course of death globally among ten to 29-year-olds, with 83% of victims being young males [3].For each death due to youth violence, approximately 20 to 40 additional young people will require hospital-based treatment due to injuries sustained [4].Addressing the factors contributing to the causes and desistance of youth offending is a global health imperative.In this viewpoint, we present a rationale for integrating the advances in youth mental health [5] within the management of youth offending internationally.We contend that commensurate health and community benefits are achievable through integrated early detection and intervention models for mental ill-health among justice-involved young people.