23/11/2020
Police Oracle
Work with Offenders examines the probation inspectorate’s annual report on youth offending services
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 again emerging as a key area of concern.
The quality of work with out-of-court disposals was again found to be worse than for cases sentenced by the court, and worst of all for ‘community resolution’ cases diverted from the formal youth justice system altogether.
At each of the 16 services – amounting to 768 individual cases – inspectors rated 12 aspects of work and awarded an overall performance rating. The Inspectorate rated:
• One service ‘Outstanding’
• Six services ‘Good’
• Eight services ‘Requires improvement’
• One service ‘Inadequate’.
Chief Inspector Justin Russell said: “It is disappointing that the overall quality of the youth offending services we have inspected this year is worse than last year, with more than half requiring some improvement.
"Overall, the weakest area of performance across all the cases we inspected is the effective assessment and management of risk of harm – an area on which we place significant emphasis. Given that half of the court cases we inspected involved violent offences, and 85% of young people going through the courts are assessed as presenting some risk of harm, this is not good enough.
"We were also concerned to see a decline in the scores for governance, leadership and management and that work with cases diverted from court remains of poorer quality than those going through the court system.”
Context
The inspections took place in the context of a continuation of the trends in youth justice that have been evident over the last decade. The number of children under 18 entering the youth justice system for the first time, through a conviction or caution, continues to fall and now represents a tiny proportion of the overall population of this age group – well under one per cent of all 10 to 17-year-olds.
The numbers entering custody are even smaller and fell dramatically as youth courts closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. By July 2020, there were only 563 children under 18 in custody – 31 per cent fewer than 12 months previously and only a fifth of the number in custody in 2003, when the figure exceeded 3,000.
The report says that given these small numbers, it is “inexcusable” that the support offered to the relatively small number of children leaving custody each year remains so poor – particularly for those in local authority care once they come out.
The report also provides a detailed look at knife crime where both the number of offences and the number of children admitted to hospital after being stabbed increased over the last year. Although inspectors found good practice in some areas, it also found “troubling gaps in the quality of work and provision of interventions for children involved in knife crime” in others.
Racial disparity
This year’s report also details how black, Asian and minority ethnic children are disproportionately represented in youth offending team (YOT) caseloads, and how services are addressing representation. Mr Russell added:
“It remains a concern that there is a disproportionate number of black, Asian and minority ethnic children within the system, who in turn generally receive more restrictive sentences than white children.
Many services have recognised this, and our inspectors found a number of examples of good practice. This is evidence of youth offending teams taking these issues seriously and striving for change; whether it be joint working with courts, training for staff or actively seeking a more diverse workforce.”
Conclusion
Given that almost all the inspections summarised in this annual report were carried out before the impact of coronavirus was felt, it is disappointing that more than half of the youth offending services in England and Wales are unable to provide a satisfactory level of service.