Before the Rebellion

I began my career in social work, working with young people caught in cycles of offending and reoffending.

I was always observing - not only the offence, but the child behind it. The child who did not fit. The child who had been labelled difficult long before anyone became curious about what had happened to them. The child whose behaviour had become louder because quieter attempts to be seen had gone unanswered.

Again and again, I found myself asking: what came before the rebellion?

Before the aggression, refusal, withdrawal or offence, what had this young person learned about their place in the world? Did they feel safe? Did anyone expect something meaningful from them? Were they known for anything other than what they had done wrong? Had they ever experienced themselves as someone capable of contributing?

Understanding these questions does not remove responsibility or excuse harm. It helps us see the conditions in which harmful behaviour develops - and gives us a chance to intervene before a child’s unmet needs become an identity imposed upon them.

Behaviour does not develop in isolation

The evidence does not support one simple explanation for youth offending. Violence and criminal behaviour develop through interacting influences at individual, family, peer, school, community and societal levels. Risk is cumulative, contextual and never destiny.

That distinction matters. Understanding the conditions surrounding behaviour is not the same as excusing it. Accountability asks a young person to recognise the effect of their actions. Effective intervention also asks the adults and systems around them to understand how those actions became possible - and what must change to prevent repetition.

An umbrella review of systematic reviews found associations between youth crime and factors including adverse childhood experiences, neglect or maltreatment, poor parental supervision, attachment difficulties, bullying, substance use and mental-health difficulties. It also identified supportive school environments as a protective factor.

Research involving young people who offend also finds a substantial burden of childhood adversity. Systematic reviews connect adverse childhood experiences with youth offending and reoffending through complex pathways that can include emotional and behavioural difficulties, mental-health problems, substance use and disrupted care. These findings identify elevated risk; they do not mean that children who experience adversity will inevitably offend.

Ask what came before

This is why the question cannot stop at ‘What did this child do?’ We must also ask:

• What happened around them?

• What did they need but not receive?

• Where did connection begin to fracture?

• When did adults start seeing a problem instead of a person?

• Which strengths, interests and possibilities were overlooked?

• Who continued to believe that this young person could

• contribute?

These questions are not an alternative to boundaries. They make boundaries more purposeful. A consequence may stop behaviour temporarily; understanding, skill-building and repair create the possibility of change.

The protective power of connection

School can intensify a young person’s experience of rejection, but it can also become one of the strongest places of repair. Social rejection, poor academic performance and weak commitment to school are recognised risk factors for youth violence. Conversely, school connection, constructive relationships with adults and participation in meaningful activities can offer protection.

A systematic review of school bonding among young people who had offended found that attendance, engagement and connection to school may support reintegration and reduce the likelihood of later criminal behaviour. The evidence remains an evolving field, but its direction matters: young people need more than surveillance and sanctions. They need credible pathways back into relationship, learning and contribution.

This does not mean lowering expectations. It means combining clear boundaries with curiosity, consistency and repair.

*A child may need to hear: What you did caused harm, and you remain more than the worst thing you have done.*

That is not softness. It is an insistence that responsibility and belonging can coexist.

From punishment to repair

A belonging-centred response asks more of everyone. The young person must participate in recognising harm, rebuilding trust and making different choices. Adults must resist reducing the child to a label, remain steady through discomfort and create a realistic route back into the community.

At ISI Cascais, repair is part of practice. It is not reserved for severe incidents. Children learn the language of impact, responsibility, boundaries and return through ordinary disagreements and mistakes. The aim is not a conflict-free environment. It is a community capable of responding to rupture without making exclusion its only tool.

Through Purpose, People, Place and Practice, we consider not only how to respond after harm, but how the learning ecosystem can reduce the conditions in which disconnection takes hold. Through Wellbeing, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Technology and Sustainability, learners encounter meaningful ways to build competence, participate and see that their contribution matters.

Before the rebellion

The first article in this series established belonging as a foundation for learning and wellbeing. The second explored its many shades, showing why children must not be required to erase parts of themselves in exchange for acceptance.

This third article examines what may happen when belonging repeatedly fractures.

Not every excluded child will rebel, and not every young person who offends has the same history. But when rejection, adversity, disconnection and limited opportunity accumulate, we should not be surprised when behaviour begins communicating what the child could not safely express in words.

Prevention therefore begins earlier than the offence. It begins in the ordinary architecture of childhood: safe relationships, consistent adults, meaningful expectations, space for identity, opportunities to contribute and somewhere to return after something has gone wrong.

Belonging cannot remove every risk. But it can change the developmental conditions in which a young person learns to understand themselves and their place among others.

The next article moves from prevention to possibility. Once a child is safe enough to belong, what becomes possible?

*Purpose. Agency. Curiosity. Contribution.*

Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Risk and Protective Factors Youth Violence Prevention. 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/youth-violence/risk-factors/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Youth Violence. 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/youth-violence/prevention/

Malvaso CG, Delfabbro PH, Day A. A systematic review and meta-analysis on adverse childhood experiences: prevalence in youth offenders and effects on recidivism. Child Abuse and Neglect. 2023;140:106055. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37142357/

Yohros A. Examining the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and juvenile recidivism: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Trauma Violence and Abuse. 2023;24(3):1640-1655. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35166600/

Zara G, Farrington DP, Jung S, et al. Risk and protective factors of youth crime: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Clinical Psychology Review. 2024;112:102461. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39178756/

World Health Organization. Preventing youth violence: an overview of the evidence. 2015. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/181008

Next in the series

Article 4, From Belonging to Purpose, asks what becomes possible once a child feels safe enough to explore. It examines purpose not as a fixed career answer, but as an evolving inner compass: the relationship between what a learner loves, what they are learning to do well, what their community needs and how they can contribute.

About the series

The ISI Cascais Research and Practice Series connects evidence, lived experience and school design. Each article explores one part of the same proposition: when the child belongs, the community thrives. Together, the articles show how that principle shapes identity, behaviour, purpose, curriculum and the everyday practice of a learning community.