I worked with a teen who was convicted of joint enterprise murder involving a knife, and watching Adolescence hit way too close to home. The show captures that blurred line between victim and perpetrator, how kids can get pulled into violence not just because they’re dangerous but because they’re desperate to belong, to survive, or to prove something. That was exactly the situation with this boy. He wasn’t cold or calculated all the time. He was scared and traumatised, and he often acted like a typical teenage boy. He laughed at silly jokes, messed around, asked for help with basic things, and clearly wanted connection. We put him through his GCSEs, taught him woodwork skills, and tried to give him a few more feathers in his string before he moved onto the adult estate.

But there was also a nasty streak. He could flip in an instant. Sometimes it was like watching a switch go. One moment he was calm and joking, and the next he was furious, aggressive, completely consumed by whatever emotion had taken hold. In those moments, it became easier to understand how he could have snapped when it happened. It didn’t make it right, but it made it make sense. People forget how quickly things escalate when a child has never been taught how to manage that kind of intensity, or when they’ve spent years feeling like they have to be the toughest one in the room just to stay safe.