Self-harm by young people in custody
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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate to Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity section
- 3. Navigate toIncidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity and year section
- 4. Navigate to Methodology section
- 5. Navigate to Data sources section
- 6. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
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in 2015/16, the rate of self-harm by young White people in custody was more than 3 times that of young people from ethnic minority groups
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there were 12.4 incidents of self-harm per 100 White young people in custody per month in 2015/16
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there were 3.8 incidents of self-harm per 100 young people from Other ethnic groups in custody per month in 2015/16
Things you need to know
The data records the number of occasions on which an act of self-harm was reported, not the number of individuals that self-harmed, nor how often individual young people harmed themselves.
Estimates based on a larger number of respondents are generally more reliable. The smaller numbers of respondents from Other ethnic groups mean that estimates for these groups are less reliable than estimates for White people.
What the data measures
This data measures rates of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity. Each incident of self-harm by a young person in custody is counted and their ethnicity recorded. Rates are expressed per 100 young people in custody per month (on average across the financial year) from 2010/11 to 2015/16.
Self-harm in the secure estate is defined as any act where a young person deliberately harms themselves, regardless of how they do so, what their intent is or how badly they injure themselves.
“Young person” and “youth” refers to anyone between the ages of 10 and 18. This data comes from bespoke behaviour management returns and include 18 year olds.
The ethnic categories used in this data
The ethnicity of youths in custody is presented in 2 categories:
- White, which includes White British and White ethnic minorities
- Other, which includes all other ethnic minorities
2. Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Rate | Average population per month | Average number of self harm incidents per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 12.4 | 766.4 | 95.3 |
| Other | 3.8 | 524.0 | 20.2 |
Download table data for ‘ Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘ Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Self-harm by young people in custody Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity Summary
The main points from this data are:
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there were 12.4 incidents of self-harm per 100 White young people in custody per month in 2015/16
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there were 3.8 incidents of self-harm per 100 young people from Other ethnic groups in custody per month in 2015/16
3. Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity and year
| White | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year (12 months ending March) | White Rate | White Average population per month | White Average number of self harm incidents per month | Other Rate | Other Average population per month | Other Average number of self harm incidents per month |
| 2010/11 | 5.5 | 1,911.4 | 105.3 | 1.3 | 971.2 | 12.9 |
| 2011/12 | 7.3 | 1,727.7 | 125.9 | 1.6 | 1,039.8 | 16.9 |
| 2012/13 | 7.8 | 1,381.3 | 107.5 | 1.3 | 860.8 | 11.4 |
| 2013/14 | 9.5 | 1,025.9 | 97.0 | 2.0 | 628.3 | 12.7 |
| 2014/15 | 10.5 | 866.1 | 91.0 | 3.2 | 549.8 | 17.8 |
| 2015/16 | 12.4 | 766.4 | 95.3 | 3.8 | 524.0 | 20.2 |
Download table data for ‘Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity and year’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity and year’ (CSV)
Summary of Self-harm by young people in custody Incidents of self-harm by young people in custody by ethnicity and year Summary
The main point from this data is:
- rates of self-harm per 100 prisoners have risen consistently for both White young people and young people from Other ethnic groups over the period 2011 to 2015
4. Methodology
Self-harm is measured as the rate per 100 prisoners (taken from prison population monthly snapshots at the beginning of each month, including new admissions, averaged across a 12-month period).
Ethnicity was recorded for more than 95% of incidents of self-harm. Because of the very small number of incidents of self-harm where ethnicity is not known, this data has been excluded from the analysis.
The data is reviewed, but as with all large administrative surveys errors and omissions can occur.
Rounding
Rates per 100 to 1 decimal place
Related publications
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/youth-justice-statistics-2015-to-2016
5. Data sources
Source
Youth Justice Statistics Supplementary Tables 8.10/8.11
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
Administrative data used for internal management information
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, value, denominator, numerator