1 Tackling youth crime
1.The youth justice system of England and Wales is
overseen by the Youth Justice Board. The system both manages young
offenders and delivers activities designed to prevent offending
by young people between the ages of 10 and 17. In 2009-10, the
cost of dealing with young offenders was £800 million. Of
this £500 million was spent through the Board, of which more
than £300 million was spent on custody for a small minority
of offenders.[2] England
and Wales have the second highest rate of incarceration in Europe;
in April 2010 around 2,200 young people were held in Young Offender
Institutions and other detention facilities.[3]
2. The number of young people in custody, however,
fell by 14% between April 2005 and April 2010 - a time when adult
custody figures increased.[4]
The number of first-time entrants to the youth justice system
has also fallen, from a peak of around 110,000 in 2007 to just
over 60,000 in 2010.[5]
Young offenders convicted in court are less likely to re-enter
the youth justice system than previously.[6]
The number of further offences committed reduced from more than
250 per 100 offenders in 2000 to just over 200 in 2008.[7]
3. We commended the Youth Justice Board for these
improvements, which they and the Ministry of Justice attributed
to a range of factors, notably the way local Youth Offending Teams
involved a range of partners such as local authorities and the
police. The Youth Justice Board said that over the last three
years it had also forged a national partnership with the Youth
Committee of the Magistrates' Association, who had helped them
to identify best practice for Youth Offending Teams when presenting
to the court.[8]
4. Nevertheless, although the number of crimes
recorded as committed by young people leaving custody was lower
than before, the number of young offenders being reconvicted fell
only slightly between 2000 and 2008.[9]
74% of those who had served custodial sentences went on to reoffend.[10]
The proportion of young people completing the more serious community
sentences, who went on to reoffend had actually increased since
2000.[11] It was on these
cases that the most money was spent.
5. Furthermore, although the number of crimes
committed by young offenders overall had fallen, much of the decrease
was due to a fall in the number of motoring crimes. The Youth
Justice Board acknowledged that stripping out motoring offences
from youth crime reduced the scale of the fall. There had also
been an increase in the numbers of more serious crimes committed
by young offenders, including sexual crimes, drug offences and
robberies.[12]
6. Youth Offending Teams conduct assessments
of young offenders' needs which are important for deciding how
much and what kind of resources they direct towards different
offenders during their sentences. However, a third of assessments
and resulting sentence plans were judged to be of insufficient
quality by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation.[13]
7. The Ministry expressed its desire to drive
up the quality of these assessments.[14]
To improve the performance of some Youth Offending Teams more
generally, the Board had established regional fora which Youth
Offending Teams attended in order to learn lessons from each other.
It had also sent a national improvement team into the worst-performing
areas. The Ministry informed us that eight of the worst Youth
Offending Teams had received this help and had improved.[15]
8. More than 70% of young offenders have severe
communication difficulties. The extent of these language difficulties
prevented young offenders benefitting from education programmes
in Young Offenders' Institutions. Yet the Youth Justice Board's
management tool for assessing young offenders' needs ("Asset")
did not test for communication difficulties.[16]
9. The Youth Justice Board told us it was committed
to reviewing Asset, and would build in a component assessing the
speech and language deficits of young offenders. This problem
went beyond simply addressing offenders' needs while in custody,
as communication difficulties could also prevent young offenders
from understanding what was happening to them in court or while
serving community sentences. Additionally, fifteen Youth Offending
Teams had developed new approaches to addressing speech and language
difficulties, such as employing therapists to work with young
offenders.[17]
2 C&AG's Report, The youth justice system in
England and Wales: Reducing offending by young people, HC
663, 2010-2011, paragraph 2 Back
3
Qq 6-11, C&AG's Report, Figure 13 Back
4
Q 1, C&AG's Report, paragraph 13 Back
5
Q 2,C&AG's Report, Figure 5 Back
6
Q 2 Back
7
C&AG's Report, Figure 7 Back
8
Q 1 Back
9
C&AG's Report, Figure 7 Back
10
Q 61 Back
11
C&AG's report, paragraph 3.9 Back
12
Qq 79-80 Back
13
Q 28 Back
14
Q 30 Back
15
Q 83 Back
16
Q 91 Back
17
Q 91 Back
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