Violence among young people is nothing new, the Jamie Bulger case, the 25th anniversary of which occurred earlier this year, demonstrated in a gruesome way that age is not a barrier to violent behaviour.
Closer to home and the youth courts, and what occurs there, goes largely unreported and any young person under the age of 18 is entitled to anonymity regardless of the severity of the crime they stand accused of.
Social media and the almost weekly viral videos of young people involved in acts of criminal violence make the issue a public talking point but give little in the way of perspective
Young men make up the majority - around three quarters - of the offenders who are processed through either the criminal courts or through diversionary disposal measures, but there is an increase in young women being processed for violent crimes.
Many of them are children who will have already experienced dysfunctionally in their home lives.
A report into youth offending carried out by Lord Laming for the Prison Reform Trust over ten years ago found half the children in youth custody came from foster or residential care.
While this does not in any way excuse violent or criminal behaviour it does go some way to explaining it.
Once in care petty, disruptive behaviour that would be traditionally dealt with by parents becomes a matter for the criminal justice system. If a child lashes out against a sibling or destroys property at home they will be grounded or have privileges removed, but for a child in care the police will be called and it becomes a criminal rather than a domestic matter.
Young women and girls are particularly vulnerable in care.
Without parental guidance and boundaries they become easily manipulated and sexually exploited by much older men.
I've spoken to a number of people who work in this field and who express frustration that girls go missing at times for two or three days at a time in the care of much older men and the limited resources or options they have to deal with this, other than calling police which again places the young person in the criminal justice system.
In the north nine out of ten children who serve a custodial sentence after breaking the law re-offend within a year of being released. Repeat offenders are responsible for 72 per cent of all youth crime.
A report released last year by the Northern Ireland audit office found it costs £324,000 a year to keep a young person in custody.
Now, given the amount of money being spent to have young people held in custody, released and then nine out of ten times commit another crime, it would be reasonable to conclude that the current youth justice system in Northern Ireland simply isn't fit for purpose.
The Youth Justice Agency is responsible for dealing with children aged 10-17 who have offended.
In 2016/17 the agency spent £17.4m and employed 277 staff.
The audit office report concluded that the agency "cannot currently demonstrate that the interventions to reduce re-offending by young people represent value for money."
Youth conferencing, a restorative justice type system, was hailed as the progressive answer to youth crime when first introduced in the north. While well intentioned it hasn't worked and over half of those involved re-offend before the community order is completed.
In fact there is no evidence youth conferencing has changed re-offending rates in Northern Ireland at all.
Custody for young people in Northern Ireland is provided at the Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre in Bangor.
Around 160 young people pass through the centre each year, some of them multiple times.
Spending hundreds of thousands a year keeping young people locked up without proper consideration for what happens when they are released is clearly not working.
When family structures fail and the state is required to provide care for young people it must be responsible for every aspect of that child's development and not just provide them with a cell to sleep in at night.
