If only I, they, we had done things differently: Young people talk about school difficulties and crime

The link between early school leaving and criminal behaviour has been well established within the literature. However, little is known about how young people understand and experience difficulties at school, reflect on their problem behaviours and ways that the broad welfare and education systems might better support them. This article reports on a qualitative research project conducted with young people engaged in the youth justice system in the Australian Capital Territory, in which participants reflected on their lives and the factors that led to their early school leaving and criminality.