More than 200 suspected members of county lines drugs gangs have been arrested in a national crackdown.There are thought to be around 1,500 of the networks in operation in the UK, which involve urban dealers forcing children to carry drugs to customers in more rural areas.They also "cuckoo" the homes…

The Government is to double funding for a scheme to steer children and teenagers away from violence after a sharp rise in crime rates. Home Secretary Sajid Javid is to increase cash available under the Early Intervention Youth Fund (EIYF) from £11 million to £22 million. It comes after police-recorded…

More children are being forced to commit crimes including carrying weapons and selling drugs, a leading charity has warned. Barnardo's surveyed its children's service managers across the country and found that 102 out of 174 (59%) had worked with young people involved in crime. Nearly three-quarters of those asked (73…

Two teenage moped riders have each been jailed for more than 20 years after stabbing a charity youth worker to death during a violent robbery spree. Nathan Gilmaney, 19, and Troy Thomas, 18, tried to rob as many people as possible, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake on…

Children are being pushed towards violent street gangs by a social care system that focuses money on a small number of the most serious cases, the Children's Commissioner for England has warned. A report commissioned by Anne Longfield found that £4.3 billion - around half of the children's services budget…

A High Court judge has taken steps aimed at protecting a youth who may be at risk of gang violence after talking to police. Mr Justice Williams has made the teenager a ward of court, a move which gives a judge overall parental control. He heard that the youth had…

Drug gangs are "regularly taking over the homes" of the vulnerable and mentally ill to use as a base for their nefarious activities, ministers have heard.Tory MP Gillian Keegan told MPs the practice, known as "cuckooing", had become a regular problem in her Chichester constituency.According to HM Courts and Tribunal…

Social media companies have been warned they must no longer be "passive hosts" in the fight to tackle surging levels of violence. Ministers told firms that the status quo "cannot continue" as they unveiled a blueprint for making Britain's streets safe following a spate of killings. Home Secretary Amber Rudd…

Teenagers with severe antisocial behaviour have difficulty recognising facial expressions and are less likely to look at people's eyes, a study has found. Researchers used eye-tracking methods to investigate why teenagers with conduct disorder have difficulty in recognising different emotions in others. Symptoms of the disorder, which is thought to…

The causes of severe anti-social behaviour may differ between teenage boys and girls, a new study suggests. This could pave the way for new sex-specific treatments or prevention programmes as the findings indicate there are differences between the sexes in the causes of anti-social behaviour. Academics in the UK, Europe…

Children in Glasgow can become socialised into the city’s gang culture from as young as 12 years old, according to new research by University of the West of Scotland (UWS). UWS PhD student, Johanne Miller told the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in Glasgow on 15 April 2015 about the…

Inmates at a jail for teenagers represent 48 different gangs, inspectors have discovered, fuelling a "constant juggling" by prison officers to keep the boys apart. There were high levels of "unpredictable and reckless" violence among the 240 boys aged 15 to 18 at Feltham Young Offenders' Institution (YOI), a significant…