Official records of bullying incidents among young offenders: what can they tell us and how useful are they?

The present study describes 107 incidents of bullying recorded by staff on “Bullying Incident Reports” (BIRs) at a male Young Offender Institution. The most frequently recorded type of bullying was psychological/verbal. Bullies had been placed on a governorʹs report prior to the BIR and found guilty on significantly more occasions than victims. Victims were significantly more likely than bullies to be seen as at risk of/actually displaying self-injurious behaviour during their incarceration. Most bullying incidents took place in cells/accommodation or in classrooms/the education block. The results are discussed with reference to how useful official records of bullying are as a method of measuring the nature/extent of bullying. Copyright 2002 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.