When most Americans hear the term “convicted child offender”, they automatically assume it is in reference to an adult who has been found guilty of a crime of a sexual naturejuvenile. In terms of mental or psychological illness among child offenders, statistics show that mental illness makes for a fairly solid predictor of other problems for child offenders. One area of notable concern among policymakers for its co-occurrence with psychological abnormalities in the convicted child offender population is substance abuse.
It should be the noted that the above assumes the care offered to the convicted child offender population is of high quality. However, many suggest mental health resources provided by public juvenile detention facilities are severely lacking.