Press Release - Youth Offending: the delivery of community and
custodial sentences
21 January 2004
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn reported to
Parliament today that the Youth Justice Board, established in
September 1998, has successfully developed and introduced a range
of new non-custodial sentences and programmes for young offenders.
There is scope, however, for the Board to improve forecasting of
custodial numbers, deciding of placements and agreeing common aims
and objectives with the Prison Service for establishments. And the
Board needs to develop clearer plans for the future of the
custodial estate, including the type and location of
establishments. Further education and offending behaviour work with
young offenders in custody can often be disrupted, and the work is
too often not continued when the individual returns to his or her
community.
In 2002-03, according to Youth Justice Board data, 268,500
offences were committed by young people aged 10 to 17 years in
England and Wales. Some 73,700 young offenders received a reprimand
or warning from the police and the courts handed out 93,200
sentences. The sentences included 59,400 non-custodial sentences
and around 7,000 detentions in custody. Detentions in custody
account for over two-thirds of the Board's £394 million budget for
2003-04.
While the numbers of young people in custody have remained
fairly constant (around 3,000 in 2002-2003, reducing to some 2,700
by June 2003), pressure on the number of places available,
particularly in Wales, London and the South East, has led to a high
number of transfers (2,400 between April 2002 and January 2003)
between establishments, often to make room for new arrivals. This
disrupts programmes to educate young offenders and stop them
re-offending. According to today’s report, the Board should improve
its forecasts of the likely numbers sentenced and draw up plans for
improving the location and type of places required. And, if
transfers are necessary to accommodate new offenders, the Board and
Prison Service should take account of the extent to which offenders
have engaged with their sentence plans – in addition to their age,
sex and vulnerability – before deciding which of them should be
moved.
Today’s report also points out that if the Youth Justice Board
is to meet its aim of reducing the number of young people in
custody, it will need to improve the credibility and effectiveness
of higher tariff community sentences. Reconviction rates amongst
those on higher tariff community sentences excluding the Intensive
Supervision and Surveillance Programme have remained high at around
60 per cent. Magistrates have welcomed the introduction of the
Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme, in particular the
high level of contact hours. The Board’s guidelines stipulate the
steps that should be taken if young offenders do not comply with
the terms of the programme. In some areas over half the young
offenders on the programme did not complete it and some had to be
re-sentenced into custody. The Youth Justice Board is researching
why this is happening and expects the results to be available in
the Summer.
Weaknesses remain in the way young offenders are supervised in
the community, in particular those released from custody. Full time
education and training started in custody are all too often not
continued in the community, mainly because of the logistical
problems in finding suitable courses, a reluctance by some young
people to attend and difficulties in persuading schools to accept
young people who may have previously been excluded. Moreover, many
young offenders do not know on the night before they are released
from custody where they are going to live after release. The Youth
Justice Board has worked with the Connexions Service to co-ordinate
work, but action is needed to improve the readiness of all agencies
involved in youth justice to work together.
Sir John Bourn said today:
"The Youth Justice Board has done much to implement
reforms to the youth justice system, but more needs to be done to
rehabilitate young offenders within the community to reduce risks
of reoffending. The movement of young offenders from one
institution to another can be unsettling for offenders, breaking
developing relationships with those responsible for their
supervision, and disrupting educational and other programmes
intended to help prevent reoffending. Better assessment of
custodial needs, and more recognition of offenders' progress with
their programmes when deciding who to move, would be
beneficial.
"And better co-ordination by all agencies involved in
supervising young offenders in the community or in providing
appropriate support services for such young people would reduce
uncertainty for some offenders about accommodation, education or
employment on completion of their sentence."
Notes for Editors
The National Audit Office undertook a joint review of youth
justice for offenders aged 10 to 17 years with the Audit
Commission. The Commission has also published a report today,
Youth Justice 2004: a review of the reformed youth justice
system, which focuses on progress made since they last
examined this area in 1996, including the work of the courts, the
role of youth offending teams and the delivery of services by other
agencies.
The Youth Justice Board was established in 1998 as a
non-departmental public body to lead and support the implementation
of the youth justice reforms in England and Wales. The aim of the
Youth Justice Board is to prevent offending by children and young
people by preventing crime and the fear of crime; identifying and
dealing with young offenders; and reducing re-offending.
The Board has a service level agreement with the Prison Service
to provide places at young offender institutions. The Board also
has agreements in place with 22 local authority secure units to
provide accommodation and contracts with Rebound ECD and Premier
Training Services to provide secure accommodation in three secure
training centres.
There are 155 youth offending teams across England and Wales
responsible for working with young offenders. Their duties include
working with the courts to provide bail support and to prepare
pre-sentence reports, administering non-custodial sentences and the
resettlement of young offenders in custody. The Board provides
funds of up to £47.7 million in 2003-04 to support community work,
conditional upon satisfactory performance.
The Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme is a six
month programme targeted at the most serious and persistent
offenders with a requirement for 25 hours of supervision per week
during the first three months and a minimum of five hours
thereafter. Each young offender is subject to a curfew monitored
through electronic tagging and voice verification or through police
monitoring.
Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the head
of the National Audit Office which employs some 800 staff. He and
the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 04/04
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