More than half youth justice services sub-standard says inspectorate

HM Inspectorate of Probation today (24 November) published its annual report, Inspection of Youth Offending Services 2019-20 in which it concluded that improvements are required in more than half of the 16 youth offending services inspected this year. Inspectors found inconsistences in performance remain, with assessment of risk of harm… Work with Offenders examines the probation inspectorate’s annual report on youth offending services...

Coronavirus impact on probation and youth justice services

The challenge of coronavirus Probation and youth offending services have responded well to the COVID-19 pandemic but attention must now turn to tackling backlogs and longer-term problems. That is the verdict of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMI Probation) in two separate reports published today. HMI Probation inspected the work… Work with Offenders looks at the conclusions of two new reports from the probation inspectorate...

Are the laws relating to joint enterprise being overused?

A new report, “Stories of Injustice” published today by academics at Manchester Metropolitan University casts new light on the number and experiences of women imprisoned under laws relating to  joint enterprise.  What is joint enterprise? Joint enterprise is a doctrine of criminal law which permits two or more defendants to… Work with Offenders on a new report which sheds light on joint enterprise laws...

What are witness intermediaries?

The Ministry of Justice has just updated its guidance on its Witness Intermediary Scheme. Most people haven’t heard of intermediaries, they are a hidden cog in the wheels of justice. A relatively new profession, intermediaries work with the police and courts as communication specialists to ensure adults with communication difficulties… Work with Offenders looks at the latest state of a critical service which is a hidden cog in theworkings of the justice system...

Children as victims

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just released a new statistical bulletin looking into childhood vulnerability to victimisation for the three-year period up to March 2019. Based on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for those two years, it reports on victimisation and negative behaviours of children… Work with offenders looks into new data about childhood vulnerability...

The CJS under lockdown

The Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics has published the first edition of its regular quarterly Criminal Justice Statistics bulletin to cover the lockdown period. The bulletin covers the year from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 and the statisticians have included additional information to show… Work with Offenders delves into the detail of the latest official data...

Prison Ombudsman still frustrated with prisons failure to learn lessons

Sue McAllister, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), has published her annual report for 2019-20, a year which ended with the PPO, like so many other organisations, having to restructure reshaping its activities to ensure it could carry out its vital work during the COVID-19 period. Sue McAllister expressed her… Work with Offenders looks at the annual report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman...

The story of our prison population

At the end of last month the MOJ published an interesting and somewhat unusual new report telling the story of the prison population in England and Wales between 1993 and the present day. The report is presented in slidedeck format and is a fascinating read. The report shows how the… Work with Offenders looks at an intriguing new document from the Ministry of Justice...

There are more people on MAPPA than there are in prison

Last week the Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics published the annual report on Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements for 2019/20. Although MAPPA has only been in existence since 2003, there are now more people supervised under its arrangements than there are people in prison. On 31 March… Work with Offenders looks at the detail of the new annual report on Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements...

What do we know about drug crime?

The House of Commons Library is a wonderful institution, albeit one little-known outside the confines of the Palace of Westminster. The Commons Library provides a range of services for MPs and their staff, including impartial research and access to resources and training. In particular, it publishes politically impartial policy analysis… Work with Offenders looks at a new House of Commons briefing...