The Reformed Youth Justice System in England and Wales

1. The Reformed Youth Justice System in England and Wales Chris Wright Head of Performance � Youth Justice Board for England and Wales

2. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 2 Content The reform process The role of the Youth Justice Board Youth Offending Teams � multi-agency partnerships Structured Assessment Performance management Impact

3. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 3 The Reforms Misspent Youth - 1996 Reform Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Re-organised services Structured pre-court interventions Choice of sentences Speed and engagement Choice of intervention Performance management

4. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 4 Statutory Principal Aim The principal statutory aim of the youth justice system: �The prevention of offending by children and young people� Crime and Disorder Act

5. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 5 Elements of the new arrangements

6. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 6 Organisation  Local Youth Offending Teams Established by local authorities 5-service partnerships Common objectives and culture National Youth Justice Board Standards, drives delivery Home Office � law and policy

7. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 7 Pre-court Reprimand, Final Warning (replacing multiple cautioning) Police �Yot interface 50% of throughput (c.80,000 disposals per annum) Interventions, restorative justice Court at third offence

8. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 8 Courts Youth court Speed � the Persistent Young Offender Pledge - PYO (Tackling delay) Engagement Crown Court

9. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 9 Sentences/Interventions Reparation and Action Plan Orders Attendance Centres Community sentences Intensive Supervision and Surveillance (tagging) 2 part custody � the Detention and Training Order; (Yot lead) Referral Orders (Restorative Justice Panel � comprising community volunteers)

10. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 10 The structural arrangements for the reformed system

11. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 11 The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales Established by 1998 Crime and Disorder Act Independent non-departmental government body Up to 12 Board members and executive Advises Home Secretary on the operation of the YJS Monitors the operation of the YJS

12. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 12 The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (cont�d) Awards grants in the pursuance of best practice Commission and purchase secure residential places Commission research and disseminate effective practice Place young people into secure accommodation

13. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 13 National and local accountabilities

14. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 14 Local Structure Local Authority Youth Offending Teams (Yots) Multi-agency teams: Including Police, Probation, Health, Education and Social Services Overseen by Partnership management boards Links to other statutory and community agencies

15. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 15 Local Structure (Cont�d) Locally funded with additional national YJB grants Responsible for the planning and provision of youth justice services

16. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 16

17. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 17 Assessment

18. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 18 Structured Assessment - Asset Comprehensiveness Consistency Quality Openness Resource allocation Develop evidence base Measure the impact of supervision

19. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 19 Key requirements for Asset Appropriate for offenders aged 10-17 For use at different points in YJ system Identify key risk factors Provide a score to predict re-offending Measure change over time Assess risk of serious harm Highlight issues for further assessment

20. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 20 ASSET takes into account static (unchangeable) factors and dynamic factors which help identify targets for intervention includes criminogenic and welfare needs identifies problems and positive factors combines numeric element with emphasis on evidence for decisions

21. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 21 Stages at which Asset is used in the Youth Justice System

22. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 22 ASSET - Purposes An aid to professional judgement An aid to case management An aid to the development of knowledge An aid to the management of resources ASSET is a tool for use - not a substitute for professional judgement or simply a paper exercise As Kerry mentioned earlier � and it should be p[lain to see � ASSET has several purposes one of which is to provide a comprehensive and consistent assessment � in this way it focuses professional judgement and allows the case worker to assess change over time � similarly ASSET can be used as a case management tool that will provide essential information to track the criminal career of the young person. In addition to this ASSET and the information contained in the completed forms provide information to develop knowledge on offending by young people both on a local and national level for example. It will especially increase the knowledge base on young offenders who are not white males � as the majority of the existing literature focuses on this group. This information will then feed in to the strategic planning and decisions of resource allocation � which in turn will help young people in those areas evidenced as problematic. Most importantly it should be remembered that ASSET is NOT substitute for professional judgement � if anything it needs professional judgment to make the information and the combination of factors that form the assessment meaningful Moves us on to the practical use of ASSET � As Kerry mentioned earlier � and it should be p[lain to see � ASSET has several purposes one of which is to provide a comprehensive and consistent assessment � in this way it focuses professional judgement and allows the case worker to assess change over time � similarly ASSET can be used as a case management tool that will provide essential information to track the criminal career of the young person. In addition to this ASSET and the information contained in the completed forms provide information to develop knowledge on offending by young people both on a local and national level for example. It will especially increase the knowledge base on young offenders who are not white males � as the majority of the existing literature focuses on this group. This information will then feed in to the strategic planning and decisions of resource allocation � which in turn will help young people in those areas evidenced as problematic. Most importantly it should be remembered that ASSET is NOT substitute for professional judgement � if anything it needs professional judgment to make the information and the combination of factors that form the assessment meaningful Moves us on to the practical use of ASSET �

23. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 23 Asset was designed to: take into account static (unchangeable) factors which can provide both statistical data about young people and their offending, and individual indicators as to the current level of risk of re-offending prior to interventions assist the assessment of dynamic factors which help us identify targets for intervention promote a holistic assessment, including criminogenic and welfare needs identify both problems and positive factors. Assessment of offenders often focuses on problems and risks - ASSET also recognises the importance of positive, potentially formative influences on the lives of young people. combine numeric elements with an emphasis upon evidence for decisions. This helps to make professional judgements more transparent and more open to comparison, review and evaluation.Asset was designed to: take into account static (unchangeable) factors which can provide both statistical data about young people and their offending, and individual indicators as to the current level of risk of re-offending prior to interventions assist the assessment of dynamic factors which help us identify targets for intervention promote a holistic assessment, including criminogenic and welfare needs identify both problems and positive factors. Assessment of offenders often focuses on problems and risks - ASSET also recognises the importance of positive, potentially formative influences on the lives of young people. combine numeric elements with an emphasis upon evidence for decisions. This helps to make professional judgements more transparent and more open to comparison, review and evaluation.

24. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 24 Positive Factors Strong/stable relationships with adults Education/work enhances confidence Friends not involved in offending Positive and constructive use of spare time Self efficacy Having goals and ambitions and life aims Opportunity for �turning points� Resilience Available help and support

25. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 25 Indicators of Vulnerability and Self-harm Could the young person be vulnerable as a result of the behaviour of others? Could the young person be vulnerable as a result of other events or circumstances? Could the young person be vulnerable as a result of his/her own behaviour? Could the young person be at risk of self-harm or suicide? What are the protective factors that might reduce his/her vulnerability and the risk of self-harm

26. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 26 Indicators of Serious Harm to Others Evidence of previous serious harmful behaviour Indicators of intentions to harm Potentially significant other behaviour (e.g. cruelty to animals)

27. Were these factors linked to past offending - are they more or less relevant now? Direct or indirect link Always relevant to offending or only on certain occasions Is the effect on offending behaviour immediate or over a longer period Will it lead to offending by itself or only in association? Consider for example how relevant this factor was to any past offending and the current offence and whether anything has changed in the interim to make this factor less relevant to the young person now and in the future� is there a direct or an indirect link � education for example � if all offending is during school hours or directed towards the school there is a very strong direct link BUT if bullying at school leads to low self-esteem education would be a more indirect link� Are these factors always related to the offending behaviour OR is it an occasional thing e.g. alcohol use � would be strongly related if the young person always committed offences under the influence of alcohol Is the effect on offending behaviour immediate or over a longer period?? � EXAMPLE?? Will the factor itself lead to offending or will it play only a part in more complex connections � e.g. does having criminal peers play a direct part in the offending or do they play a peripheral role � e.g. the young person also offends by themselves� Obviously the scoring is down to individual interpretations of the information before them BUT the enhanced consistency that is achieved through ASSET should eventually mean that the rating becomes uniform and akin to a culture within the YOT structure. Instead of going through each section one by one � will highlight some of the more interesting sections.. NEW SLIDE Consider for example how relevant this factor was to any past offending and the current offence and whether anything has changed in the interim to make this factor less relevant to the young person now and in the future� is there a direct or an indirect link � education for example � if all offending is during school hours or directed towards the school there is a very strong direct link BUT if bullying at school leads to low self-esteem education would be a more indirect link� Are these factors always related to the offending behaviour OR is it an occasional thing e.g. alcohol use � would be strongly related if the young person always committed offences under the influence of alcohol Is the effect on offending behaviour immediate or over a longer period?? � EXAMPLE?? Will the factor itself lead to offending or will it play only a part in more complex connections � e.g. does having criminal peers play a direct part in the offending or do they play a peripheral role � e.g. the young person also offends by themselves� Obviously the scoring is down to individual interpretations of the information before them BUT the enhanced consistency that is achieved through ASSET should eventually mean that the rating becomes uniform and akin to a culture within the YOT structure. Instead of going through each section one by one � will highlight some of the more interesting sections.. NEW SLIDE

28. As you can see � 5 different score from 0 � meaning there is no link all the way to 4 � signifying that this element is very strongly associated with the likelihood of future re-offending When scoring you may find it helpful to consider some of the following elements for example � NEXT SLIDE As you can see � 5 different score from 0 � meaning there is no link all the way to 4 � signifying that this element is very strongly associated with the likelihood of future re-offending When scoring you may find it helpful to consider some of the following elements for example � NEXT SLIDE

29. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 29 Interventions

30. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 30 Effective Practice -interventions Evidence base Thematic approach Key Elements of effective practice (15) Quality Assurance process (Yot self-assessment and YJB validation) Measure compliance � practitioners, managers and strategic partners Improvement plans Revise evidence base

31. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 31

32. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 32 Performance Management An approach towards continuous improvement

33. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 33 Yot performance framework

34. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 34 Include here any other info gathered in Exercise 1 � from where Regional teams would gather info to assess Yot performanceInclude here any other info gathered in Exercise 1 � from where Regional teams would gather info to assess Yot performance

35. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 35 Include here any other info gathered in Exercise 1 � from where Regional teams would gather info to assess Yot performanceInclude here any other info gathered in Exercise 1 � from where Regional teams would gather info to assess Yot performance

36. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 36 Underlying drivers of Yot performance

37. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 37

38. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 38 Outcomes

39. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 39 The Earlier You Intervene the Better�. No. Recidivism Pre Court 74,000 35% First Tier 48,000 58% Second Tier 28,000 74% Custody 8,000 73%

40. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 40 Main Findings from Yot recidivism cohorts Consistency in overall results over time.

41. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 41 A success story? Still much progress to be made but: 156 Yots established A model for public sector service delivery (Audit Commission 2004) By 2002 the re-offending rate for young offenders had dropped by 7.4% compared with 1997 Progressing towards achieving 80% of youth justice workforce having benefited from National Qualification Framework

42. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 42 But! Very high use of custody (currently c. 3,000) Re-offending levels slipping back towards 1997 figures Constantly changing service delivery environment Need to maintain focus on youth crime prevention and reduction

43. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 43 Thank You www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk