The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime

The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime is programme of research that aims to address a range of fundamental questions about the causes of criminal and risky behaviours in young people. The core of the programme is a major longitudinal study of a single cohort of around 4,000 young people who started secondary school in Edinburgh in the autumn of 1998.

This grant was for seventh data collection of the project, when the young people were aged around 22. This phase tracked patterns of contact with the juvenile and adult criminal justice system from age 8 (age of criminal responsibility in Scotland) to 22, and assessed the impact of such contact on pathways out of criminal offending.

The data collection comprised a survey of 563 cohort members, supplemented by 30 in-depth interviews. Information was also collected from Scottish criminal records, social work and prison records.

The most recent news for the study can be found on the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime website Opens in a new window.