The Bigger Picture on the youth justice
system
By Clare Jerrom
Youth Justice
Community Care campaigned during 2004 for improvements
to the youth justice system and for a reduction in the number of
children being held in prisons.
For further information go to
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/backontrack/coverage/home.htm
History
During the 1990s there was a huge increase in the number of
children caught up in the youth justice system. In its 1997
manifesto pledge the Labour Party promised to reform the youth
justice system.
Prime minister Tony Blair said: “Youth crime and disorder have
risen sharply, but very few young offenders end up in court, and
when they do half are let off with another warning.
“Young offenders account for seven million crimes a year.
“Far too often young criminals offend again and again while
waiting months for a court hearing. We will halve the time it takes
to get persistent young offenders from arrest to sentencing;
replace widespread repeat cautions with a single final warning;
bring together youth offending teams in every area; and streamline
the system of youth courts to make it far more effective.
“New parental responsibility orders will make parents face up to
their responsibility for their children's misbehaviour.”
After Labour came to power in 1997, it introduced the Crime and
Disorder Act 1998 and the Youth Justice Board was set up to drive
the reforms forwards.
Youth Justice Board
The YJB is an executive non-departmental public body, within the
Home Office. Its 12 board members are appointed by the home
secretary.
The aim of the YJB is to prevent offending among under-18s and
it delivers this by setting standards and monitoring performance,
promoting good practice and making grants available to local
authorities and other bodies.
The YJB:-
 | |
| YJB chair Rod Morgan | |
* advises the home secretary on the operation of the youth
justice system
* sets standards and monitoring performance
* purchases places for children and young people remanded or
sentenced to custody
* identifies and promoting good practice
* makes grants to local authorities or other bodies
* commissions research and publishes information.
The YJB also tries to divert young people away from crime through
early identification and prevention programmes
Prevention
The Youth Justice Board has set up a number of diversionary
schemes to engage with young people, increase their knowledge and
deter them from offending.
These schemes include:-
Youth Inclusion Programmes (Yips)
Young people who are engaged in crime of at risk of offending
are identified by youth offending teams and the programme gives
young people somewhere safe to go where they can learn new skills,
take part in activities with others and get help with their
education and careers guidance.
Each YIP receives an annual grant from the Youth Justice Board
and is required to find at least an equal amount in matched funding
from local agencies.
Youth Inclusion and Support Panels
Youth Inclusion and Support Panels aim to prevent antisocial
behaviour and offending by 8 to 13-year-olds who are considered to
be at high risk of offending.
Panels are made up of a number of representatives of different
agencies such as social services and health. The main emphasis of a
panel's work is to ensure that children and their families, at the
earliest possible opportunity, can access mainstream public
services.
Splash Cymru
Splash Cymru is a programme of diversionary activities for 13 to
17-year-olds that runs in the school holidays in Wales.
Funded and managed by the Youth Justice Board, the programme
consists of locally run schemes based in areas characterised by
high levels of crime and deprivation.
Positive Activities for Young People
Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) provides a broad
range of constructive activities for 8 to 19-year-olds at risk of
social exclusion. It builds on the success of previous school
holiday programmes such as the Youth Justice Board’s Splash and
Connexions’ Summer Plus.
The programme aims to reduce crime and to ensure that young
people return to education, have opportunities to engage in new and
constructive activities, and can mix with others from different
backgrounds.
This cross-government initiative aims to develop young people’s
interests, talents and education, and engage them in community
activities so they are less likely to commit crime. Activities
based on arts, sport and culture take place both during the school
holidays and out of school hours throughout the year.
Positive Futures
Positive Futures is a national sports-based social inclusion
programme aimed at marginalised 10 to 19-year-olds in the most
deprived areas.
By engaging these young people in sport and other activities,
Positive Futures aims to build relationships between responsible
adults and young people based on mutual trust and respect, in order
to create new opportunities for alternative lifestyles.
Safer Schools
Safer School Partnerships provide a very focused approach to
address the high level of crime and antisocial behaviour committed
in and around schools in some areas – crime committed by and
against children and young people.
There are now some 370 police officers based in selected schools
in areas with high levels of street crime. This is a joint
initiative between the Department for Education and Skills (DfES),
the Youth Justice Board and the Association of Chief Police
Officers (Acpo) which aims to reduce criminality, antisocial
behaviour and criminality.
All schools involved in the Safer School Partnerships initiative
have a police officer based in their school.
Mentoring
Mentoring pairs a volunteer adult with a young person at risk of
offending. The adult's role is to motivate and support the young
person on the scheme through a sustained relationship over an
extended period of time.
Parenting programmes
Parenting programmes provide parents with an opportunity to
improve their skills in dealing with the behaviour that puts their
child at risk of offending. They provide parents/carers with
one-to-one advice as well as practical support in handling the
behaviour of their child, setting appropriate boundaries and
improving communication.
Youth Offending Teams (Yots)
The YJB also established Youth Offending Teams to work with
young offenders and young people at risk of offending. These are
multi-agency teams made up of representatives from social services,
police, health, housing, police, probation, education and dug and
alcohol workers and there is a Yot in every local authority
area.
Yots work with young offenders and those at risk of offending by
identifying their needs and planning a programme to address their
needs in a bid to prevent offending.
For a list of contact details for your local Yot go to
http://www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk/YouthJusticeBoard/YouthOffendingTeams/ContactDetails.htm
Sentences
If a young person is convicted of an offence, there are a number
of community and custodial sentences.
Here is a list of community sentences:-
• Community Rehabilitation and Punishment Order
• Supervision Order
• Action Plan Order
• Attendance Sentence Order
• Referral Order
• Reparation Order
• Fine
• Conditional Discharge
• Absolute Discharge
Young people can also be given an Intensive Supervision and
Surveillance Programme as part of an order. ISSP is the most
rigorous non-custodial intervention available for young offenders.
It combines high levels of community-based surveillance with a
comprehensive and sustained focus on tackling the factors that
contribute to the young person's offending behaviour. The programme
targets the most active repeat young offenders, and those who
commit the most serious crimes.
Custodial sentences
Children sentenced to custody can be placed in:-
• Local authority secure children’s home
• Secure Training Centre
• Young Offender Institution
Laschs
These are designed for young female offenders aged 12-16 year
old and young male offenders aged 12-14-years old. Vulnerable make
young offenders aged 15 and 16 should also be placed in a
Lasch.
They are small with between six and 40 beds and are run by local
authority social services departments. They have a high staff to
young person ratio of two young people to one staff member and
focus on attending to the physical, emotional and behavioural needs
of the young people they accommodate.
Secure Training Sentences
There are four of these privately-run purpose-built STCs in
England.
* Oakhill in Milton Keynes
* Hassockfield in County Durham
* Rainsbrook in Rugby
* Medway in Kent
They accommodate young offenders up to the age of 17 and the
regimes are constructive and education-focused. They provide
tailored programmes for young offenders that give them the
opportunity to develop as individuals which, in turn, will help
stop them re-offending. Trainees are provided with formal education
25 hours a week, 50 weeks of the year. They also have a high
staff-trainee ratio – three staff members to eight trainees.
Young offender institutions
YOIs are run by the Prison Service and for young offenders aged
15-21, although the YJB is only responsible for accommodating
under-18s. They are larger than STCs or Laschs, have a lower staff
to child ratio and are less able to meet the needs of the young
people held there.
Young adult offenders
In 2001, the government pledged to build on the improvements made
to the youth justice system to improve the custodial conditions for
young adult offenders aged 18 to 21. However, as a result of the
high prison population and movement of young adult offenders around
the system, little has been done to improve the situation for this
group.
Legislation
Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003
The Antisocial Behaviour Act was introduced by the government in
a bid to protect neighbourhoods and communities. However, a lot of
the measures are targeted at children and includes giving police
powers to disperse groups of two or more young people on the
streets if they are deemed to be acting antisocially and the
extension of fixed penalty fines to young people. Children found on
the streets between 9pm and 6am may also be taken home by the
police. The measures have been welcomed by communities but
criticised by human rights groups and children’s charities who
believe the measures are too punitive towards children and could
potentially breach their human rights.
Since the introduction of the antisocial behaviour legislation,
there has been a huge uptake in the number of antisocial behaviour
orders being given out. Rod Morgan, the chair of the Youth Justice
Board, has admitted that the rise in the young offender population
in custody in 2004 was a result of breaches of antisocial behaviour
orders. This means children who have acted antisocially are ended
up in prison which appears to go against the message in the
government’s legislation for children that ‘Every Child Matters’,
early intervention is crucial and custody should be used
sparingly.
Children Act 2004
 | |
Margaret Hodge driving
through
children's reforms | |
The Children Act 2004 places much emphasis on joined-up working
and early intervention. It aims to divert young people away from
crime and ensure parents are responsible for their child’s
behaviour.
Youth Justice: The Next Steps
When the government published Every Child Matters, the green
paper consultation which led to the introduction of the Children
Act, an accompanying document for plans for the youth justice
system was published too.
Many campaigners were disappointed that the section on youth
justice was published separately and thought the proposals should
have been included in Every Child Matters.
The government published its response to the consultation in
March 2004 and pledged to establish a new Intensive Supervision and
Surveillance Order as an alternative to custody for persistent
offenders while continuing to work with the YJB to improve the
juvenile secure estate.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs2/stoppingyouthcrime.pdf
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs2/youthjusticenextsteps.pdf
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/youthjusticeresponse.html
Youth Justice Bill
The government is planning a Draft Bill building on responses to
the September 2003 consultation ‘Youth Justice. The Next Steps’ to
introduce better sentencing of juveniles with a sharper focus on
preventing offending and simplification of sentences. It will
clarify the main purpose of juvenile sentencing as prevention of
offending; establish more effective community sentences with a
simplified structure; establish the Intensive Supervision &
Surveillance Order (ISSO) as an alternative to a custodial
sentence; provide that a Detention & Training Order would not
be available unless an ISSO had already been tried; give power to
place trainees in open conditions and allow temporary release from
custody with tagging; broaden the range of services that deal with
young offenders.
The Bill would extend to England & Wales.
Useful links
Government bodies
 | |
Bobby Cummines of UNLOCK
speaking atthe launch of our
Back on Track campaign in
2004.
| |
http://www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk/YouthJusticeBoard/
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/inside/index.html
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/justice/sentencing/youthjustice/
Voluntary sector organisations and campaign
groups
http://www.nacro.org.uk/
http://www.howardleague.org/
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/
http://www.nayj.org.uk/
http://www.rethinking.org.uk/facts/rethink/
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