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| Topic title | Children Known to the Youth Justice Service (2024) |
|---|---|
| Topic owner | Nottinghamshire Youth Justice Partnership Board |
| Topic author(s) | Nicola Suttenwood |
| Topic quality reviewed | June 2024 |
| Topic endorsed by | Nottinghamshire Youth Justice Partnership Board, July 2024 |
| Topic approved by | Health and Wellbeing Board, September 2024 |
| Replaces version | Youth offenders (2014) |
| Linked JSNA topics |
Nottinghamshire Youth Justice Service (YJS) works with children between the ages of 10-18 years old to prevent offending and re-offending. Whilst the service support children who have been instructed to work with the service by the Courts, or the Police on a statutory basis, it also provides support to children on a voluntary basis as part of preventative and diversionary programmes of interventions. Interventions are varied and tailored to meet the individual needs of the child; the aim is to steer children away from crime and anti-social behaviour, helping them make the most of their lives.
Children aged 10-17 who find themselves in contact with the Youth Justice Service (YJS) are known to experience poorer health outcomes and have an increased number of needs than children in the wider population. Increasingly, children in contact with the YJS are presenting with multiple needs and vulnerabilities and, despite many of these children already being known to early help services, their health and wellbeing needs have been missed at an earlier stage.
Being away from education, being in the care of the local authority, substance use, and residing in an area of deprivation have been identified as risk factors which increase the likelihood of children becoming involved in offending behaviour. When exploring the health and wellbeing needs of children involved with the YJS; there is a higher proportion of children with neurodiversity and unrecognised speech, language and communication needs, and the prevalence of social, emotional, and mental health needs can be up to three times higher than for children within the general population. Whilst individual risk factors are known to increase the likelihood of offending behaviour, it is often the cumulative effect of several risk factors which place individuals at a heightened risk of offending, rather than just one factor alone.
Children from minority ethnic backgrounds are overrepresented in the YJS and are known to be at a higher risk of being dealt with by the Court, as opposed to being offered a diversionary alternative, both nationally and locally. Whilst there are more boys in the YJS than girls, data suggests that girls are being criminalised sooner than boys. It appears that the underlying factors driving girls offending behaviour is not being identified at an early stage, and they are not being given the opportunity to engage in interventions which could help them not to offend and avoid contact with the Criminal Justice System (CJS).
Despite children presenting with comparable needs, there is some disparity in the services that are available to children who are working with the YJS on a statutory and non-statutory basis. This disparity increases the risk of some children not having their needs met, being at a greater risk of reoffending and being increasingly vulnerable to becoming more entrenched in the CJS.
The YJS is a multi-agency partnership, with the local authority, probation, health, police and education all having a statutory responsibility. The number of children involved in the formal Youth Justice System is reducing year on year. A significant amount of work has been undertaken to reduce unnecessary child arrests, alongside engaging children in preventative intervention at the earliest opportunity and diverting them away from formal criminal justice processes. With this shift in focus, it is essential that statutory partners work together to ensure that the health and wellbeing needs of this cohort of vulnerable children are being identified early, and resources are available to meet children’s often complex and multiple needs, reducing the likelihood of criminalisation and subsequent entry into the Youth Justice System.
Recommendations for consideration
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Recommendation |
Lead(s) |
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Data Collation and Reporting |
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1 |
To embed current processes relating to the recording and analysis of Youth Justice Key Performance Indicators (KPI) data to better understand the needs of children working with the YJS. |
YJS Partnership Board |
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2 |
To improve the recording of the needs of children who are accessing targeted preventative intervention to help plan service provision. Making full use of the newly introduced assessment tool and working with the Information and Systems Team to create a dashboard assisting with data collection and analysis. |
YJS / Business Intelligence and Information and Systems Teams |
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3 |
Embedding and acting on the analysis of data which measures the impact of diversionary outcomes / targeted preventative intervention on rates of offending; short and long term. |
YJS Partnership / Board Business Intelligence and Information and Systems Teams |
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Service delivery |
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4 |
Further analysis of girls who offend to support services in the early identification of vulnerabilities driving girls offending so that services can provide appropriate support and prevent them from encountering the CJS. |
YJS/Police/Education Teams |
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5 |
Further analysis of children from black and minority ethnic backgrounds to understand the barriers to accessing preventative services. |
YJS/Police/Childrens Social Care/LA Education Teams |
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6 |
To carry out further analysis of children who have committed motoring offences and become an FTE; exploring diversionary alternatives and reducing entry to the CJS where appropriate alongside meeting these children’s needs. |
YJS/Crown Prosecution Service /Police/Courts |
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7 |
Improve the YJ Partnerships understanding of attendance data (including suspensions and exclusions) for children known to the YJS, linking in with the wider strategic attendance and behaviour strategy; exploring opportunities for early intervention. |
Local Authority Education Teams/YJS Partnership Board |
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8 |
Increase staffs’ understanding of the SEN code of practice and Nottinghamshire's processes, including the graduated response to SEN, so they can better support children. |
Local Authority Education Teams/YJS |
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9 |
Undertake a review of the support in place for children who are accessing alternative provision (including EOTAS) to support sustainment and positive outcomes. |
YJS/LA Education Teams |
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10 |
Strengthen speech, language and communication provision for children that are known to the YJS. Ensure there is a monitoring and evaluation process measuring impact and outcomes. |
Local Authority Public Health Commissioning Teams/YJS |
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11 |
Strengthen access to emotional and mental health provision for children who are working with the YJS and accessing non statutory programs of intervention. Supporting YJS staff to identify and address the needs of children in accordance with the Thrive framework |
Childrens Integrated Commissioning Hub (CICH)/Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB)/YJS |
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12 |
To review the service offer and capacity requirements of the Clinical Nursing Team based on guidance and best practice to ensure a continued robust health offer to the YJS |
CICH/ICB/YJS |
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13 |
To develop YJS and partnership staff’s knowledge and understanding of autism and the link with offending behaviour with a view to sharing effective practice. |
YJS/ICB/YJS Partnership Board |
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14 |
To ensure partnership staffs practice and processes for early engagement with children recognises neurodiversity, communication, and other health needs (e.g., early arrest and voluntary interview practice. See the CJS Learning Disability and Autism Pathway Project for principles and guidance) |
YJS/ ICB /Police |
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15 |
To review Police/YJ practice in relation to Police Facilitated Community Resolutions and develop a clear framework for joint working to ensure that children are receiving appropriate support at the earliest opportunity to help them avoid further offending |
YJS/Police |
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16 |
Partner agencies to commit to undertaking the ‘Child First’ self-assessment toolkit (commissioned by YJB); supporting them to reflect on current practice, how far it is in line with the evidence base of what works with children, and how they might become more Child First in their practices and approaches. |
Police/Education Teams/Health/YJS Partnership Board |
Nicola Suttenwood
YJ Development Manager
Nicola.suttenwood@nottscc.gov.uk
This is an online synopsis of the topic which shows the executive summary and key contacts sections. To view the full document, please download it.