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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.
Rice et al. (Thu,) studied this question.