The Reformed Youth Justice System in
England and Wales
Chris Wright
Head of Performance – Youth Justice Board for
England and Wales
Content
 The reform process
 The role of the Youth Justice Board
 Youth Offending Teams – multi-agency
partnerships
 Structured Assessment
 Performance management
 Impact
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The Reforms
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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
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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
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Elements of the new
arrangements
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Organisation
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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
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Pre-court
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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
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Courts
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Youth court
Speed – the Persistent Young Offender
Pledge - PYO (Tackling delay)
Engagement
Crown Court
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Sentences/Interventions
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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)
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The structural arrangements for
the reformed system
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The Youth Justice Board for England and
Wales
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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
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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
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National and local accountabilities
Welsh
Assembly
HOME OFFICE
(CORRECTIONAL SERVICES)
Department for Education and Skills
Department of Health
DEPT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL
AFFAIRS
COURTS
YOUTH JUSTICE
BOARD
(NDPB)
CUSTODIAL PROVIDERS
•PRISON SERVICE
•LOCAL AUTHORITY SECURE
•INDEPENDENT SECTOR
LOCAL AUTHORITY
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
POLICE
YOUTH OFFENDING
TEAMS (YOTS)
154 – LOCAL FOCUS
HEALTH
SOCIAL SERVICES
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PROBATION
EDUCATION
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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
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Local Structure (Cont’d)
 Locally funded with additional national YJB
grants
 Responsible for the planning and provision
of youth justice services
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Resources for Yots 2004-2005
Police 9.6%
Youth Justice Board 21.1%
Probation 7.6%
Local Authority Chief
Executive 10.3%
Health 4.8%
Education 5.8%
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Social Services 40.9%
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Assessment
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Structured Assessment - Asset
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Comprehensiveness
Consistency
Quality
Openness
Resource allocation
Develop evidence base
Measure the impact of supervision
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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
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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
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Stages at which Asset is used in the Youth
Justice System
Final Warnings
Final Warning Asset (short)
Court Bail/Remands
Bail Asset (short)
Referral Orders
Pre Sentence Reports/
SSIs
Mid Order
(ISSPs, DTOs)
End of Order
Youth Justice
Boardorders)
for England and Wales
(all
RO Panel
APOs
ACOs
SOs
CPOs
CPROs
DTOs
S53/92
Core Asset Profile
‘What do YOU think?’
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ASSET - Purposes
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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
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Components of ASSET
Core Profile
Offending
Career
Living
Arrangements
Motivation
Family &
personal
Attitudes to
offending
Offending
behaviour
Thinking
Behaviour
Perception
self /
others
Emotional
/Mental
Health
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Education
Employment
Neighbourhood
Lifestyle
Physical
health
Substance
Use
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Positive Factors
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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
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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
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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)
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Consider the following:
 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?
Not associated at all
Slight, occasional, limited, indirect
Moderate but definite
Quite a strongly associated, normally
a direct link, relevant to most types /
occasions of offending
Very strongly associated.
Clear direct link, dominant factor
Interventions
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Effective Practice -interventions
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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
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Identify interventions that are
effective in addressing risk
factors through research and
monitoring
Deliver support and
resources to address gaps
in performance
Promote the application of
effective interventions through
grants, practice guidance, and
learning programmes
Monitor the performance of the youth justice
system to identify gaps in effective practice and
emerging best practice
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Performance Management
An approach towards continuous
improvement
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Yot performance framework
 The different components of the
Youth Justice Board’s
performance framework are
intended to ensure that the
Board’s corporate aims and
objectives for the youth justice
system are delivered
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Youth
Justice
Plan
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Yots are also influenced by other
performance frameworks
PPOs: Prevent
& Deter
Reduction in
permanent
exclusions
Anti-social
behaviour &
youth
nuisance
Youth
Justice
Plan
DIP measures:
drug testing &
treatment
Robbery /
street crime
reduction
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Accommodation
stability for
looked after
children
Reduction in
the proportion
of 16-18 NEETs
Early identification
of at risk young
people (CAF)
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Yot Assessment Framework – using a
basket of measures
General
5%
KPI
Youth
Justice
Plan
Recidivism
Performance
15%
20%
EPQA
KPI
Improvement
Improvement 10%
12.5%
EPQA
12.5%
National
Standards
25%
Performance Weighting
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Underlying drivers of Yot performance
Performance and Quality
Systems
• Effectiveness of performance
management – 13 indicators/EPQA
• Accuracy and value of data
• Ownership of targets by staff
• Internal administration
Governance
and Leadership
• Composition and operation of
steering group
• Position within local authority
• Links with other strategic bodies
• Leadership
Partnership Working
• Financial and operational support for
Yot performance
Performance
Performance
Local context
People and
Organisation
• Volume and risk of offenders
• Deprivation
• Infrastructure of services (rural)
[Local context influences performance but
is unlikely to change in the short-term]
• Recruitment and retention
• Performance management
• Training and skills
• Yot organisational structure
Resources
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• Staff recruitment and retention
• Adequacy of resourcing for
workload
• Range and quality of programmes
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Need an in-depth understanding of performance
to target improvement effort
High
Star?
Progress on
underlying drivers now
needs to feed through
into improved
performance
Strong performance and
foundations
Struggler?
Is there a credible
improvement
strategy in place
with senior buyin?
Capacity and Capability
Improver?
Low
Concerns?
Performance improvement
is unstable or weaknesses
emerging that may hit
performance?
Performance
KPI data
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High
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Outcomes
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The Earlier You Intervene the Better….
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Pre Court
First Tier
Second Tier
Custody
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No.
74,000
48,000
28,000
8,000
Recidivism
35%
58%
74%
73%
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Main Findings from Yot recidivism
cohorts
 Consistency in overall results over time.
Re-offending After 24 Months
2000
2001
2002
Pre-Court
34.3%
34.0%
35.4%
First – Tier
56.6%
57.1%
57.7%
Comm-Pens
70.0%
69.4%
73.8%
Custody
69.9%
71.5%
72.7%
Total
47.8%
48.2%
50.0%
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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
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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
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Thank You
www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk
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