MPs call for improvement in youth sentences
The Commons Public Accounts Committee has called for a more joined up approach for young offenders, with the integration of education, custodial and community sentences.
The MPs argue that “effective rehabilitation is critical to reducing re-offending rates but Youth Offending Teams face difficulties in placing young offenders back into education, employment or suitable housing”.
They call for a more joined up approach between the relevant departments, agencies and local authorities where support is offered to education establishments who take on ex-offenders, and shared targets and goals.
In its look at the current state of youth offending programmes, it points out that eight outof ten of the young people sentences to custody re-offend – despite a spending of around £283 million.
Though only a small proportion of young offenders (seven per cent) are sentences to jail they are often the most prolific criminals. The MPs suggest that the Youth Justice Board should review the education offered by custodial establishments, arguing: “If re-offending rates are to be reduced, custodial and non-custodial elements of sentences, and rehabilitation during and on completion of sentence, need to be better integrated by the Youth Justice Board.”
Today’s report warns of a variability in the range and content of programmes in different custodial establishments, and calls on the Board to ensure that core programmes are delivered across all establishments.
Noting that the number of people sentences to custody varies widely across the country, the MPs hypothesise that this could be due either to a variance in the number of places available, or differing levels of confidence in the community sentences.
Turning to community sentences, the MPs warn that if they are to be considered a “credible” alternative, they must be “administered effectively and consistently across the country.” They warn that over half of the offenders on the new Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme fail to complete the programme, and calls on the Youth Justice Board to investigate why, and which, offenders fail to complete the programme.
The report also calls for action from the Home Office and the Youth Justice Board to help fill frontline vacancies, which were running at 6.5 per cent in September 2003.
