Written evidence from the Transition to
Adulthood (T2A) Alliance (PB 67)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance is pleased
to have the opportunity to submit further evidence to this Inquiry,
having already made a submission following the Committee's initial
call for evidence. This submission welcomes the Government's recognition,
in its Green Paper 'Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment,
Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders', that young adults
are a group that will require a different approach in the development
of payment-by-results processes. However, the T2A Alliance is
disappointed that the Green Paper does not consider the transition
from the youth to the adult criminal justice system. Addressing
this will be central in developing services that effectively rehabilitate
young people.
ABOUT THE
TRANSITION TO
ADULTHOOD ALLIANCE[7]
The Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance is a broad
coalition of organisations and individuals which identifies and
promotes more effective ways of working with young adults, aged
18-24, in the criminal justice system. Convened by the Barrow
Cadbury Trust, its membership encompasses leading criminal justice,
health and youth organisations Addaction, Catch22, the Centre
for Crime and Justice Studies, Clinks, the Criminal Justice Alliance,
the Howard League for Penal Reform, Nacro, the Prince's Trust,
the Prison Reform Trust, the Revolving Doors Agency, the Young
Foundation, Young People in Focus and YoungMinds.[8]
Following a comprehensive programme of research and consultation,
in November 2009 the T2A Alliance published a 'Young Adult Manifesto',
containing ten recommendations that would make the way in which
we deal with young adult offenders more effective, fairer and
less costly.[9]
This work forms the basis of the analysis contained in this submission.
In addition, the Barrow Cadbury Trust has established
three pilot projects, running from 2009-12, which are testing
different approaches to improving services for young adults in
the criminal justice system. The T2A pilots enable community interventions
to be tailored to the needs of the individual, with the aim of
reducing both the risk of reoffending and social exclusion. The
pilots are based in London, delivered by St Giles Trust, in Worcestershire,
delivered by Youth Support Services (YSS), and in Birmingham,
delivered by Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Service.
The Birmingham Pilot focuses on 17-24 year olds with medium to
low needs, specifically providing assistance with accommodation,
employment, relationships and substance misuse. Support includes
advocacy, advice and mentoring both in custody and the community,
as well as additional support to motivate the young adults to
access appropriate interventions. The Worcestershire pilot offers
a flexible, community based, one-to-one support and mentoring
project using paid staff and local volunteers. The London Pilot
engages with offenders in custody and supports them upon release
into Southwark and Croydon. The service is delivered by qualified
ex-offenders and comprises mentoring and motivational and attitudinal
work, alongside practical support in areas such as housing, benefits,
employment, training and education.[10]
These pilots have received a formative evaluation by Oxford University's
Centre for Criminology and will receive an outcome-based evaluation
by young people's charity Catch22. This practical experience has
helped to inform our policy development work and influenced the
content of the "Young Adult Manifesto".
SUBMISSION OF
EVIDENCE
1. The T2A Alliance welcomes the proposals set
out the in the Government's Green Paper, "Breaking the Cycle:
Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders".
The Green Paper sets out a clear agenda for criminal justice reform,
prioritising rehabilitation and reducing reoffending, and many
of the issues identified by the T2A Alliance in our "Young
Adult Manifesto" are addressed by the Government's proposed
reforms.
2. In the context of this inquiry, the T2A Alliance
particularly welcomes the recognition in the Green Paper that,
in the development and delivery of payment-by-results, young adults
are a distinct group that may require a different approach. The
Green Paper states that "We also understand that there may
be a case for rewarding providers differently for rehabilitating
different types of offender. Different offender groups may require
different treatment, including … young adult offenders"
(p 45).
3. The T2A Alliance advocates a distinct approach
for young adults (aged 18-24) within the criminal justice system,
due to their levels of maturity and the economic, social and structural
factors that specifically impact upon them. Brain development
continues into the mid to late 20s, affecting reason, judgement
and impulse control. The age at which someone becomes a fully
independent adult in society is also much later now than it was
forty years ago and the criminal justice system's arbitrary determination
that those over the age of 18 are "adults" is thus out
of step with cultural and social norms of transitions to adulthood,
and fails to recognise changes in broader society. In addition,
young adults are the most likely age group to desist and "grow
out of crime". Between the ages of 18 and 24, the focus should
therefore be on encouraging desistance from crime and supporting
the factors which reduce criminal behaviour, for example employment,
housing and good health.
4. Young adults in trouble with the law also
often have high levels of complex need and are from backgrounds
of great disadvantage, and young people with the most troubled
or traumatic childhoods often take a lot longer to mature. Young
adult offenders frequently have few or no educational qualifications,
and no experience of work. They also suffer from high levels of
mental ill-health, and alcohol and drug misuse problems. These
are often even more acute during someone's transition to adulthood,
as child-focused support services - such as care services, child
and adolescent mental health services, children's services and
youth offending services—fall away when they reach the age
of 18.
5. The issue of young adults is central for the
Probation Service. Young adults aged 18-24, who constitute less
than 10% of the population, make up more than one-third of the
probation service's caseload. During 2009, 44,836 young adults
(aged 18-24) started a community order, 36% of the total number
of people to receive a community order, and 16,233 young adults
(aged 18-24) started a suspended sentence order, 35% of the total.
As of 31 December 2009, 33,728 young adults (aged 18-24) were
serving a community order, 34% of the total, and 14,656 were serving
a suspended sentence order, 34% of the total. Reform to the Probation
Service can therefore only be successful if it addresses the specific
needs of young adults, as recognised by a previous House of Commons
Justice Committee report, which argued that "it does not
make financial sense to continue to ignore the needs of young
adult offenders"[11].
However previous efforts by the Probation Service to develop a
distinct approach to young adults, for example the Intensive Control
and Change Programme and young adult probation teams, have been
discontinued.
6. We therefore welcome the Government's recognition,
in the Green Paper, that a distinct approach to payment-by-results
may be necessary to address the needs of young adults. The T2A
pilot projects, established and funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust,
are already beginning to demonstrate the benefits of an approach
that focuses on young adults (while the Intensive Alternative
to Custody pilot run by Greater Manchester Probation Trust, which
focuses on 18-25 year old males, is also promising). In particular,
the T2A pilot projects demonstrate the strengths of an approach
that provides additional support to young adults, who may have
particularly chaotic and unstructured lifestyles and therefore
face particular challenges in complying with community sentences.
In developing payment-by-results, the T2A Alliance would also
support an approach to measuring success that focuses on distance-travelled
and on achieving positive steps towards desistance, including
reducing the frequency and severity of reoffending, rather than
a binary 'yes/no' measure of reoffending. This would better reflect
what we know about the offending behaviour of young adults.
7. We hope that the Government will seek to learn
from the lessons learnt in setting up and delivering the T2A pilots
in developing payment-by-results models for young adults. In this
context, however, the T2A Alliance is disappointed that the Green
Paper does not address the transition between youth and adult
services in the criminal justice system. The T2A Alliance has
argued that there is a need for improvements in transitional arrangements
and communication between agencies working with young adults,
with particular focus on Youth Offending Teams and the Probation
Service. As part of this, Government needs to consider how commissioning
arrangements for projects working with young adults can work across
the age boundary of 18.
8. This will be particularly important in the
design of payment-by-results. It is essential that a focus on
delivering outcomes by different providers based in the youth
justice system and in the adult justice system, alongside a fragmentation
in the providers of criminal justice services, does not prevent
effective collaboration and communication across the division
between the youth and adult systems. Incentives will need to be
developed to ensure that agencies working with young people under
the age of 18 and with young adults work together to prevent reoffending.
9. It is therefore important to ensure that all
potential providers of criminal justice services in the community,
including the Probation Service, consider how they can bridge
the gap between the youth justice system and the adult system
in the development and delivery of rehabilitation services. This
will help to address high reoffending rates by young adults and
can play an important part in implementing the Government's "rehabilitation
revolution".
January 2011
The members of the T2A Alliance are: Addaction, Catch22,
the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Clinks, the Criminal
Justice Alliance, the Howard League for Penal Reform, Nacro, the
Prince's Trust, the Prison Reform Trust, the Revolving Doors Agency,
the Young Foundation, Young People in Focus and YoungMinds. The
T2A Alliance is convened and supported by the Barrow Cadbury Trust.
7 For more information on the T2A Alliance, see
http://www.t2a.org.uk/alliance Back
8
Although the work of the T2A Alliance reflects the views of its
membership, this submission should not be seen to represent the
policy positions of each individual member organisation. Back
9
The 'Young Adult Manifesto' is available at
http://www.t2a.org.uk/publication-download.php?id=27 Back
10
For more information on the pilot projects, see
http://www.t2a.org.uk/pilots Back
11
Paragraph 166: House of Commons Justice Committee (2010) Cutting
Crime: The case for justice reinvestment, First Report of
Session 2009-10, London: The Stationery Office Limited. Back
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