YRO and Substance Misuse

1. YRO and Substance Misuse Louise Crompton Senior Policy Advisor Young Offenders and Substance Misuse Treatment March 2008

2. YRO Part of Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill YRO will be the new generic community sentence for young offenders and will combine a number of existing sentences into one generic sentence. It will be the standard community sentence used for the majority of young offenders. It aims to simplify sentencing for young people, while improving the flexibility of interventions. The YRO represents a more individualised risk and needs-based approach to community sentencing, enabling greater choice from a ‘menu’ of requirements. The term ‘risk’ refers to offending behaviour – see YJB Scaled Approach – which aims to support youth justice services to put in place a scaled approach to intervention that is based on the assessed level of risk of re-offending and risk of harm to the community. The term ‘risk’ refers to offending behaviour – see YJB Scaled Approach – which aims to support youth justice services to put in place a scaled approach to intervention that is based on the assessed level of risk of re-offending and risk of harm to the community.

3. Purposes of Sentencing The Bill states that prevention of offending and re-offending is the principal aim when considering a sentence for a child or young person bringing sentencing in line with the principal aim of the youth justice system as a whole. In addition to this primary aim of preventing offending, the courts are required to have regard to other factors: the punishment of offenders the reform and rehabilitation of offenders the protection of the public the making of reparation by offenders to persons affected by their offences. The court must also have regard to the welfare of the offender in accordance with section 44 of the Children and Young Person’s Act 1933. The new provision should ensure that welfare needs are considered when sentencing, but do not have equal status to, or override, the main aim of preventing offending.

4. Current Sentence Structure

5. YRO Sentence Structure

6. Low Numbers of YO need treatment as part of sentence YJB Performance Data for 2005/6 YOTs identified 4, 079 young people with treatment needs 33 young people received a DTTO NTA Performance Data for 2005/6 Of all referrals into treatment for 18 years and under, less that 1% were for DTTO’s Drug Treatment and Testing Requirement Pilot 5 sites trialled from December 2004 to November 2005 11 DTTRs given across all sites There is some suggestion that YOTs add attendance at treatment appointments to sentence arrangements which in effect makes non-attendance at treatment a breachable offence – this may need further investigation NTA Data – Proportion of Referrals from DTTOs of All Referrals from YP CY System There is some suggestion that YOTs add attendance at treatment appointments to sentence arrangements which in effect makes non-attendance at treatment a breachable offence – this may need further investigation NTA Data – Proportion of Referrals from DTTOs of All Referrals from YP CY System

7. YRO and Substance Misuse There are three substance misuse elements to the YRO: Drug Treatment Requirement Intoxicating Substance Requirement Drug Testing Requirement (14 years or over) Neither YJB nor NTA anticipate that there will be a large increase in numbers of young people receiving these requirements Drug Treatment Requirement covers all drugs defined in Section 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (HO website) Intoxicating Substance Requirement includes drugs not listed in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 including alcohol and volatile substances Testing requirement is seen as an additional method of informing stakeholders of young persons progress in changing SMU behaviour rather than an instrument for monitoring abstinence Testing requirement can only be given if a young person also received a Drug Treatment or Intoxicating Substance Requirement – it is not a stand alone. This is because treatment is delivered to assist all young people to achieve Every Child Matters 5 Outcomes, testing alone is unlikely to increase progress towards these 5 outcomes Drug Treatment Requirement covers all drugs defined in Section 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (HO website) Intoxicating Substance Requirement includes drugs not listed in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 including alcohol and volatile substances Testing requirement is seen as an additional method of informing stakeholders of young persons progress in changing SMU behaviour rather than an instrument for monitoring abstinence Testing requirement can only be given if a young person also received a Drug Treatment or Intoxicating Substance Requirement – it is not a stand alone. This is because treatment is delivered to assist all young people to achieve Every Child Matters 5 Outcomes, testing alone is unlikely to increase progress towards these 5 outcomes

8. Likely Process – Sentence Requirement Court can only include this requirement if: it is satisfied that a young person has treatment needs Recommended by YOT or Probation Service Young person and or guardian gives consent Young offender can receive specialist substance misuse treatment assessment from a specialist provider - capacity Guidance highlights that treatment should only be part of order if: Young person has previously failed to engage in treatment Substance misuse is a factor in offending The following is based on guidance accompanying the Bill YJB does not expect any changes to the SMU element but we will only know for certain once the Bill is passed The following is based on guidance accompanying the Bill YJB does not expect any changes to the SMU element but we will only know for certain once the Bill is passed

9. Likely Process – Breach Requirement to be highlighted in the Pre-sentence Report and where necessary a separate Drug Requirement Report The requirement will be monitored by the responsible officer (YOT worker) in conjunction with treatment providers Failure to comply with the requirement could result in a breach; decision made by responsible officer on a case by case basis. Positive test should not been seen as breachable Refusal to take test could be seen as breachable

10. Current status of YRO