Lifestyle accounts for the link between victims and offenders

A study of 4,300 16-year-olds found some youngsters "bounced" between being victims and offenders.

Researchers at Edinburgh University found that being a victim of crime by the age of 12 was one of the strongest indicators that a child would offend by 15.

And those who offended at 12 were also likely to become victims of crime by 15.

Certain lifestyles provide opportunities for getting involved in various kinds of trouble Dr Lesley McAra

Young offenders often gang together and commit crimes against each other, the study found.

Programmes to rehabilitate young offenders and support victims should be re-thought to take into account this close link, it suggested.

Some victims may offend or seek retaliation for crime.

Dr Lesley McAra said: "Few youngsters are specialists in violent offending.

"Instead, certain lifestyles provide opportunities for getting involved in various kinds of trouble."

Gender divide

Boys offended only slightly more often than girls between the ages of 13 and 15, said the research.

Girls were more likely to smoke and drink by the age of 15.

But there were considerably higher levels of serious offending among boys.

Dr McAra said: "The study shows violent boys are very similar as people to those who are not, suggesting the phenomenon is a normal expression of masculinity for teenage youths.

But she said violent girls were different from other girls and aggressive boys in their behaviour.

"They are much more likely to be drug users, gang members, truants, and from a lower class background."

A fifth of 15-year-olds were gang members, although only 5% belonged to a gang with a name and a saying or sign.

Offending was higher among gang members.

Members of organised gangs were typically boys from broken families and lower-class backgrounds.

Gangs provided moral support, encouraging and excusing violence and other criminal activities.

Social class and income were found to be only slightly related to offending in terms of individual families.

But a deprived neighbourhood was strongly linked to the local crime rate.

The findings suggested police may be repeatedly targeting particular groups of younger teenagers or "usual suspects".