1 / 19

Transition to Adulthood: Understanding Young Adult Maturity for Justice

Explore the significance of young adult maturity in criminal justice, focusing on developmental concepts and pathways from policing to resettlement. Learn about international comparisons and core principles for tailored responses.

nendsley
Download Presentation

Transition to Adulthood: Understanding Young Adult Maturity for Justice

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Transition to Adulthood Debbie Pippard, Head of Programmes The Barrow Cadbury Trust

  2. T2A: origins

  3. Why young adults? • Peak age of offending • 10% of population • 1/3 of CJ caseload • Generally poor outcomes • Peak age for desistance • Opportunity to intervene • Neurological rationale • Multiple transition points • (personal; services) • Successes of youth justice can be applied

  4. Shakespeare (1623), The Winter’s Tale Shepherd: I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, and fighting . Advisory Council on the Penal System (1974), recommended: A special concentration of public effort upon this group of young adults, who are in danger of going on to long and costly criminal careers, is a sensible investment by society at a time when resources, both human and material, are too scarce to allow a similar degree of attention to be paid to all age groups.

  5. Building a campaign

  6. Maturity, young adults and the criminal justice system • Maturity can be understood as a developmental concept, including the categories of physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. • Processes of physical and intellectual development are usually completed during adolescence; it is the categories of emotional and social development that are of most relevance in considering the maturity of young adults • ‘Temperance’ is identified as the significant maturity factor that continues to influence antisocial decision making among young adults • Development of those areas of the brain concerned with higher order cognitive processes and executive functions, including control of impulses and regulation and interpretation of emotions, continues into early adulthood; the human brain is not ‘mature’ until the early to mid-twenties.

  7. Pathways from crime

  8. Step 1: Policing and arrest • Raising awareness of issues regarding the policing of young adults • Best practice case studies for Police and Crime Commissioners • Police and gender: pilot project diverting young women

  9. Steps 2 and 3: Diversion, Restorative Justice

  10. Steps 4 and 5: Prosecution and sentencing • Inclusion of lack of maturity as a mitigating factor when considering sentences • Guidelines for prosecutors would allow same process in decisions to take to court • Court diversion schemes • Centre for Justice Innovation scoping young adult court

  11. Step 6: Community sentences • Three pilots funded for 3+ years: • Three points of the pathway • Additional, flexible, voluntary. • In partnership with statutory services • Extensively evaluated • Asset-based, taking maturity into account • Focus on transition

  12. Step 6: Community sentences (cont.)

  13. Step 7: Managing the transfer process • Transition between youth offending services and probation • Multiple transitions add additional strain • Care leavers/vulnerable young people – state as midwife to adulthood? • Transition between young offender institute and prison

  14. Step 8: Custody • Study of best practice in custodial settings for young adults • Second study commissioned to look in more detail at options for young adult women • Controversy about secure estate for young adults • Pilot projects commissioned X and Y

  15. Steps 9 and 10: Resettlement and Enabling Desistance

  16. Individual circumstances

  17. International comparisons • No justification in international research not to use same approach with juveniles and young adultsComparative approaches to young adults • Germany and The Netherlands stand out as beacons of good practice • Criminal justice responses should be flexible and subjective • Almost all European justice systems accept that young adulthoold should be reflected in laws or practice • Applying young adult-specific practice allows for tailored response

  18. Core principles • Maturation is a process, it happens at different rates for different people • There are multiple opportunities to intervene • Adolescents and young adults respond particularly badly to harsh punitive regimes • Consistent, reliable, role model relationships help develop maturity and speed desistence • Transitions are a challenge and a risk and need to be managed well • Its a social justice issue.

  19. Want to know more? • www.T2A.org.uk

More Related