Contacts with Adult Criminal Justice System among Children and Young People with Social Care Involvement in High-Income Countries: A Systematic Review

Purpose: systematically identify, evaluate, and synthesise existing quantitative studies that investigate: 1. How is children and young people’s (CYP) childhood involvement in social care associated with their contact with the adult criminal justice system (CJS) in high-income countries? 2. How prevalent is adult CJS contact among CYP with childhood social care involvement in high-income countries? 3. Is the association between childhood social care involvement and adult CJS contact shaped by individual characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, mental health and trauma histories) or environmental characteristics (e.g., family conflict, unmet service needs, prior social service use)? 4. Do antecedent risk factors that predate system contact (e.g., maltreatment, parental incarceration, deprivation) contribute to the likelihood of both childhood social care involvement and adult CJS contact? Expected outcomes: 1. A methodologically rigorous synthesis of the evidence base 2. Identification of gaps in current research (e.g., under-studied populations, contextual variations, limited causal inference) 3. Practical insights for policymakers, practitioners, and service providers to improve support for vulnerable children and young people and reduce involvement in the youth justice system. 4. Recommendations for future research, including opportunities for longitudinal analysis, cross-agency data linkage, and intervention evaluation.