Under-age drinkers plaguing town / BBC, Friday, 17 October 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7676021.stm
"Police said youths are descending on Lochgelly from nearby towns
Up to 200 teenagers are descending on a Fife town every week for co-ordinated drinking sessions, it has been claimed. Locals said youths were descending on Lochgelly from nearby towns such as Cardenden, Ballingry, and Cowdenbeath. Children as young as 12 were said to be getting drunk before causing trouble in Friday night gatherings, which it is thought are arranged in the classroom. Community wardens have tried free cinema tickets and minibuses to youth clubs to curb the problem."

More than one million added to the DNA database as children
/ The Daily Telegraph, 17 November 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3473483/More-than-one-million-added-to-the-DNA-database-as-children.html
"Campaigners said the revelations showed how children are being criminalised and treated as "suspects for life". Official figures show that, since the DNA database was created, 1.07million profiles of children have been added. This is nearly a quarter of the 4.4million profiles on the database. Anyone who comes into contact with the police, as an offender or a witness."

Statement on Safeguarding Children: Speech by Ed Balls / Department for Children, Schools and Families, 20 November 2008
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/speeches/search_detail.cfm?ID=846
"This is a transcript of the statement by Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls in the House of Commons on 20 November 2008. He talks about the actions taken since the serious case review into the death of Baby P."

Minister announces review over baby's death / The Independent, Tuesday, 11 November 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/minister-announces-review-over-babys-death-1010949.html
"Children's minister Beverley Hughes announced a nationwide independent review of child protection services today after the harrowing death of a toddler. The 17-month-old boy, who cannot be identified, was on the child protection register with Haringey social services in north London. His mother's 32-year-old boyfriend and another man, Jason Owen, 36, were convicted at the Old Bailey today of causing or allowing his death."

National Conference on Injecting Drug Use: Speech by Dawn Primarolo / Department of Health, 7 November 2008
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/Speeches/DH_090082
"This is a transcript of the speech by Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo at a drug conference on 28 October 2008. She says that maintenance and abstinence are equally important in treating drug misuse."

Time for Action: Equipping Young People for the Future and Preventing Violence - the Mayor’s proposals and call to partners / Greater London Authority, November 2008
PDF - http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/crime/timeforaction/docs/timeforaction-main.pdf
"Time for Action sets out the Mayor’s vision for a programme of action for Equipping Young People for the Future and Preventing Violence. As this is the Mayor’s call to partners, feedback is sought on his proposals to improve youth opportunities and prevent violence through a programme for action."

Police 'pimp their ride' into mobile youth club / 24dash.com, 27 October 2008
http://digbig.com/4xtjd
"Equipped with a plasma TV, stereo and games console this is one police van people might not mind being thrown in the back of. [...] Equipped with a plasma TV, stereo and games console this is one police van people might not mind being thrown in the back of."

National Domestic Violence Delivery Plan: Annual progress report 2007-08 / Departments: Home Office, 31 October 2008
http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/domesticviolence/domesticviolence069.htm
"This report covers progress on early identification of domestic violence, capacity building to improve support for victims and improvements to the way the criminal justice system deals with domestic violence.

Use of Alcohol Among Children and Young People / Department for Children, Schools and Families, 30 October 2008
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/programmeofresearch/projectinformation.cfm?projectId=15587&type=5&resultspage=21
"This research looked at barriers to young people getting involved with alcohol and barriers to stopping drinking."

Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2007-08 British Crime Survey / Home Office, 30 October 2008
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/hosb1308.pdf
"These statistics cover self-reported drug use for adults and young people in England and Wales from the 2007-08 British Crime Survey."

Future care: children's advice on future care standards: a report by the Children's Rights Director for England / Ofsted, October 2008
PDF - http://www.rights4me.org/content/beheardreports/295/REPORT_Future_Care.pdf

Youngsters want more internet protection, says new report / Ofsted, 24 October 2008
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/News/Press-and-media/2008/October/Youngsters-want-more-internet-protection-says-new-report

"Children living away from home, or using social care services, want to feel safer online, be protected from unsuitable sites and have adult supervision, highlights a new report published today by the Children’s Rights Director for England, Dr Roger Morgan. The report, ‘Future care: Children’s advice on future care standards’, follows consultation with 686 children and young people - aged between four and 20 - who attended the 2008 national children’s conference. These youngsters discussed the key issues that they would like to see considered for future inclusion in the National Minimum Standards. “One of these is the need for all children to know about how to stay safe on the internet,” explains Dr Roger Morgan."

Government's Response to the Report by the Advisory Group on Drug and Alcohol Education / Department for Children, Schools and Families, 27 October 2008
http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetails&PageMode=publications&ProductId=DCSF-00872-2008&
"This document sets out the Government's response to a report on drug and alcohol education. It lists the actions that the Government intends to carry out."

DCSF: Substance misuse / Department for Children, Schools and Families
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/health/substancemisuse/
"This page gives information on reducing the level of substance misuse by young people through local delivery of education, prevention, treatment and enforcement programmes."

Knife sentencing 'not effective' / BBC, 16 October 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7672910.stm
"The study found young people were living in "constant fear" of attack
Longer jail terms are not an effective way of persuading teenagers to stop carrying knives, research suggests. Pentonville Prison governor Nicola Marfleet interviewed 14to 17-year-olds who had either been excluded from school or were serving time in custody."

News release Howard League - report can be purchased from themhttp://www.howardleague.org/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/press_2008/Knife_crime_16_October_2008.pdf

Dangers from anonymous web proxies as kids return to school / Public Technology, 8 Sep 2008
http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=17216
"Bloxx, a web content filtering specialist, warns that as the new academic year approaches, educational institutions should be aware of the escalating use of anonymous proxies by students trying to bypass web filtering technology and the risks associated with unrestricted internet access. The Internet is an incredibly important and useful resource for education, yet it can also impact productivity as students have the opportunity to waste time surfing social networking websites or bandwidth-sapping media download sites."

UK children 'at risk on internet' / BBC, 26 September 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7638533.stm
"UK children are more at risk from web dangers than those from other European countries, a study has found. Almost one in four British youngsters has received unwanted sexual comments online compared to one in 10 in Ireland and Germany, the report said."


London School of Economics study of 7,393 children - The full report is available at www.eukidsonline.net in the section ‘EU kids Online reports’
http://www.eukidsonline.net/

Interpersonal and Physical Dating Violence among Teens / National Council on Crime and Delinquency, September 2008
PDF - http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pubs/Dating%20Violence%20Among%20Teens.pdf
"This Focus attempts to bring to light various aspects of a little-studied issue of critical importance, especially to youth."

Cannabis: Classification and public health / Home Office, 13 October 2008
http://drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk/publication-search/cannabis/acmd-cannabisreclassification
"This document is the Government's response to the recommendations made by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on the classification of cannabis."

Paedophiles use internet blackmail to claim victims, says CEOP / The Times 12 September 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4735360.ece
"Paedophiles are publishing an increasing number of sadistic and violent images of younger children on the internet and are abandoning the slow grooming of victims, instead using threats to force them into commiting indecent acts, an intelligence review has found. The review, published today by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), also found evidence that individual paedophiles are running multiple e-mail accounts, sending out hundreds of messages a day to children."