Report of the Feasibility Group on Youth Crime Pilots

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The Report of the Feasibility Group on Youth Crime Pilots

Annex A

(Extract from "It's a Criminal Waste", the Report of the Advisory Group on Youth Crime)

How do we bridge the gap?

29. The consultation exercise highlighted the particular problems, which exist in relation to persistent offenders in the 14 to 18 year group. Recognising that this group has special problems around issues of maturity, the present fracturing of the system for young people at the age of 16 tends to aggravate rather than resolve the problem. Annex D provides an analysis of some of the issues rising at the transition point between the Hearings and the court system.

30. Whilst significant improvements in criminal justice social work interventions have been achieved in the 1990s with the introduction of National Standards, 100% funding for criminal justice social work services and the development of services based on research evidence of "what works", it is recognised that the adult court system was not designed to deal with the particular needs of these often very immature young people. Statistics also show that young people aged 16 and 17 have a high risk of custody once they enter the adult system. We believe that many young offenders can be assisted to grow out of patterns of offending, provided that a full range of credible and demanding alternatives to custody, tailored to their needs and deeds, is made consistently available within a community setting.

31. We believe that young people can be assisted in making a successful transition into adulthood if the system sets out to:

  • Divert as many as possible of those involved in minor offences out of the system altogether, and

  • Delay as long as possible the entry of the more persistent minor offenders into the adult system.

This approach suggests that 16 and 17 year old offenders should be dealt with in the Hearings system, once it is strengthened and given access to a wider repertoire of services.

Improving the present system

32. Under the present arrangements, those 16 and 17 year olds who continue to come before the courts will continue to have a range of offences and a range of needs to be addressed. In dealing with them, the adult criminal justice system should seek to combine the principles of welfare and justice in a way that will increase the potential for positive change. In particular, the system should:

  • Adopt a multi-disciplinary approach, which deals not just with the offence but the life circumstances of the young person, including employment, education and training, housing, leisure facilities

  • Be delivered by mixed teams of child care and criminal justice professionals to provide the skills necessary to support this holistic approach

  • Create a link between the Children's Plans and Criminal Justice Plans prepared by local authorities to root joint working in the strategic planning process

  • Expand the present pilot diversion schemes across Scotland to provide all procurators fiscal with an alternative to prosecution, with special provision for young people

  • Extend the present restricted bail information and supervision schemes to all 16/17 year olds to avoid the unnecessary use of remand in custody for young people

  • Review the use of fines as a penalty for young offenders to reduce the level of custody for fine default

  • Provide access for the courts to the same integrated package of interventions, including mediation and reparation, as is recommended earlier in this section

  • Adopt an evidence-based approach, operating to the same standards on integrity, quality assurance and performance evaluation for the interventions, whether made as a result of action in the Hearings or courts.

A bridging system for the future

33. The above package of measures seeks improvements within the existing structural framework. But we should do more to develop a coherent bridging system that crosses between the Hearings and the adult criminal justice systems. The Group recommends a detailed examination of the feasibility of a bridging pilot under which as many 16/17 year olds as possible would be referred to the Hearings rather than the courts.

34. We envisage that the bridging pilot would have the following elements:

  • For almost all under 16 year olds, referrals on offence grounds would go to the Reporter, as at present

  • For 16/17 year olds, the police would operate a fast track approach for the young person at the point of arrest which would accelerate their referral to the procurator fiscal

  • The procurator fiscal, taking full account of public interest and public safety, would refer as many cases as appropriate to the Reporter for action.

35. The expectation would be that the young person would be dealt with in the community, with custody or containment available only in cases where it can be proved that the young person presents a risk to the public or to their own safety.

36. The new approach would call for new skills and attitudinal change on the part of all concerned. It would have major practical implications for the Hearings in terms of numbers of panel members, workload for Reporters, accommodation etc. It would also require the full support and co-operation of procurators fiscal and police. There are also vires and ECHR issues which need to be considered. All of this needs further detailed examination.

37. If the proposition proves feasible, it would need to be tested by targeted pilots on the basis of:

  • Court areas where there are high custody rates for 16/17 year olds

  • Local authority areas where there is a commitment already to "bridging" arrangements

  • Availability of the appropriate range of programmes and interventions.

If it worked, additional costs to the Hearings could be more than outweighed by the savings to the adult system.

(Annex D from Report of Advisory Group on Youth Crime)

TRANSITION BETWEEN THE HEARINGS AND THE COURTS

Introduction

1. Young offenders aged 14 -18 have been identified as a particular group for concern, straddling as they do the transition point between the Hearings system and the criminal justice system. After targeting interventions on the small number of persistent offenders who commit a disproportionately large amount of crime, this group should be given priority. In suggesting that the Children's Hearings and criminal justice systems are not realising their full potential in dealing with these young offenders, 3 pressure points are identified:

  • disposals

  • transition between the two systems

  • co-ordination within and between the systems.

Problem

2. Young offenders in this age group present special problems whether they are dealt with in the Hearings system or in the adult criminal justice system. It is at this stage that attitudes towards the accountability of young offenders for their deeds begin to change, when patterns of offending are becoming established, when the number of offences are accumulating, and when difficult young people may be excluded from school. The result is that these young offenders are at serious risk of moving rapidly through the Hearings/court system towards custody.

Aim

3. The broad aim should be to assist these young people to make a successful transition into adulthood by:

  • diverting as many as possible of those involved in more minor offending out of the system altogether, and

  • delaying as long as possible the entry of the more persistent/serious offenders into the adult system.

Some Principles

4. At the COSLA/NCH Think Tank, the group which discussed the 14-18 age group identified some principles on which to base a more effective approach to the offending behaviour of this group. These were:

  • recognition that the age group has special problems related to maturity and that many of these problems are transitional

  • a multi-agency approach is required to deal not just with the offences but employment, education, training, housing etc. Since persistent offenders in the 14 to 18 age range have a range of needs, a range of responses should be offered

  • the individual should receive a tailored response which meets their particular needs. Services should be designed to meet the needs of the person, not to serve the needs of the agency providing the services

  • the system should aim to empower the young person

  • the "what works" agenda should be adopted in order to address the offending behaviour/criminogenic needs of the age group

  • young people should be represented and there should be a clear emphasis on due process, and

  • standards should be set and effectiveness monitored and independently evaluated.

Transitional issues

5. With these principles in mind, we can move on to consider some of the specific issues which arise at the transitional point between the Hearings and the criminal justice systems.

6. The focus of the Hearings system is based on a much wider view of the issues around marginalisation. It aims to balance that with interventions which seek to effect change in either the life circumstances surrounding the criminal behaviour, or the young person's capacity to manage these circumstances within the law.

7. The criminal justice system is not primarily designed to promote or reinforce notions of inclusion. Because the primary concern is to establish whether the evidence presented is sufficient to prove that the individual committed the crime, the process of criminal justice is geared towards that purpose. In doing so, it sets out to signal the State's attitude to offending behaviour, to make redress and to respond to the needs of the victims of crime as well as to reduce patterns of re-offending.

8. In terms of inclusion, this suggests that the greater use of community based disposals, including mediation and reparation, if seen to be effective, would help to promote the concept of community justice.

Role of key players

9. The point of transition between the Hearings system and the criminal justice system is also one where the role of key players in the process change. Specifically these include the family, education, youth work services, and the young people themselves.

  • the integration of the role particularly of the family and the community within the framework of the Hearings is an important part of the system, and the evidence which promotes its value in the Hearings system remains valid as the young person reaches 16

  • the involvement of the young person in the adult criminal justice system emphasises responsibility/accountability for their deeds and gives them a more active role in the process.

This suggests that the system should be able to empower these maturing young people and yet avoid the effective removal of other key players from the process which serves to isolate them.

Addressing offending behaviour

10. Any system should be judged on the effectiveness of its interventions but an additional feature of the transition is the support which is provided for young people to help them address this behaviour:

  • he or she passes from a system where the approach is to bring all the influencing factors and persons together with the young person and those charged with making decisions. The focus of the work of child care teams is primarily the provision of support and protection for the child. There is nevertheless, a perceived lack of confidence in the Hearings system's ability to deal with the 16-18 age group

  • the move to the criminal justice system removes both this notion of collective or community responsibility and the support it offers to the young person in their efforts to change. But the criminal justice system has a wider range of disposals available to it and has adopted the "what's works" agenda. It has criminal justice staff whose job it is to assess risk and to address offending behaviour for example through cognitive behavioural and other intervention programmes.

This suggests that the system should serve to enhance the quality of the decisions to be taken, reinforce the responsibility and stake of each participant in the outcome at the same time, and have available to it a wider range of disposals specifically designed for this age group so increasing the potential for positive change.

Change in where responsibility lies

11. The transition marks a change in the approach to the child's rights as a citizen.

  • the Hearings system approaches the question of responsibility for the actions and behaviour, and importantly of the changes required on the basis of shared responsibility

  • the criminal justice system takes the approach of individual responsibility but in holding the young person accountable for their actions and for meeting the requirements of the court's decision, it also demonstrates a concern about proportionality and the due process of the law. There is a greater focus on representation and on advocacy which is there to protect the rights of the individual.

This suggests that the system should promote the responsibility of the community for the young people it produces, support community safety policies and recognise the rights of the young person to the due process of the law.

Questions of maturation and the 'temporary delinquent'

12. The abrupt transition from the Hearings to the criminal justice system fails to address the issues of maturation or to respond to what has been called the 'temporary delinquent' in an appropriate way. At whatever stage a young person moves from the more supportive ethos of the Hearings system, he/she will find it difficult to comprehend the change in the response which will follow any failure to meet the requirements which have been made by the court.

  • the ethos of the Hearings system is supportive and the way it deals with lapses does not prepare the young person for the move to the adult system

  • in the adult system, failures may well fast track the young person into continued offending and increasingly punitive disposals.

This suggests that there needs to be a bridge between the differing approaches taken by the two systems and a more flexible approach which sets out to ease the transitional process whether it occurs at age 16 or 18 or even later.

Conclusion

13. An understanding of these transitional issues may help to point the way forward. Both the Hearings and criminal justice systems have their strengths and their weaknesses when it comes to dealing with the 14-18 age group. It might be argued that the transition from one to the other, serves to emphasise the weaknesses at a critical time in the lives of these young people. We need to build in more of the strengths. The proposals in the report seek to do so.

Page updated: Monday, April 03, 2006