YJB hails steep fall in youth reoffending rates

Youth reoffending rates fell by almost 9% between 2005 and 2008, according to the latest Ministry of Justice figures.

The frequency of reoffending also fell, by 24.8% between 2000 and 2008.

Frances Done, chair of the Youth Justice Board, said the YJB was now on track to achieve the government target of reducing youth reoffending by 10% from 2005 to 2011.

She hailed the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP), as a contributory factor.

“The ISSP began in 2002 and has really started to bed in. We think this intensive community sentence is beginning to pay off and help in terms of the attention and support these young people receive,” she said.

The latest figures show that the number of children and young people in custody is also at its lowest since 2000. Done said the savings incurred would enable the YJB, which has already begun to decommission custody places at two young offender institutions, HMYOI Castington and HMYOI Brinsford, to reinvest money into preventive schemes and more effective resettlement.

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