Youth Justice in Brighton & Hove
The way we keep young people out of trouble is being reviewed. We need to get it right
Young offenders come under the spotlight next week as a report looks at the way we manage those teenagers most at risk of stealing and fighting. The number of young people becoming caught up in the youth justice system for the first time has fallen significantly over the past six years. The number being arrested or brought before a court has fallen from 507 young people in Brighton and Hove in 2005-06 to 172 in 2010-11. The finalised figures for the most recent year, 2011-12, are expected to show a further fall.
The fall in the number of first-time entrants to the youth justice system is good compared with the national average, according to a report to the Brighton and Hove Community Safety Forum. The number sent to custody over the past five years has fluctuated. It was 23 in 2006-07, it rose to 30 then 40 before dropping sharply to 14. In 2010-11 it was 21. The changes have been broadly in line with national trends.
But there have been uncomfortable increases in the average number of re-offences for those who have an established history of offending. And a small number of young offenders in Brighton and Hove have been found to be committing a disproportionately high number of further offences. It was found that 30 per cent of the re-offenders committed 75 per cent of offences. Mostly these were at the less serious end of the scale.
The Community Safety Forum is looking at the figures because last year the local youth offending team was criticised by the Inspector of Probation Services. In particular the inspector was concerned about the risk of harm to the public. Protecting children and rates of re-offending were also flagged up for improvement.
A Youth Justice Plan was put together in short order to address concerns. It has now been reviewed and reworked and is being presented privately to professionals in the sector. Among other things, more effort is going in to identifying those most likely to re-offend – typically about 25 to 30 young people in the city.
One difficulty comes once a youngster has been detained – and the name of these youth prisons or detention centres changes every generation or so. Jailed youngsters may well see themselves as criminals and become more likely to stay on a criminal path and keep company with criminal friends.
Brighton and Hove’s youth offending team is working with Sussex Central YMCA and two other Sussex youth offending teams to try to change their behaviour. Funding has been secured for three years to allow intensive work with young people being released from custody on resettlement programmes.
Perhaps worryingly, the report to the Community Safety Forum meeting next Monday 8 October said: “In looking at achievements and challenges, it is at times hard to separate them out from each other.” Some of the measures do focus on small numbers so small changes can seem big in percentage terms – and skew Brighton and Hove’s performance in national terms. But if the professionals are finding it hard to tell whether they are succeeding, it is unsurprising if independent inspectors raise concerns.
Aside from various mentoring schemes, which ought to contribute to visible successes, other work is taking place. Brighton and Hove has become a “pathfinder” for a new arrest diversion scheme. This aims to ensure that young people are assessed after being arrested. Greater consideration is being given to those with poor mental health, learning disabilities or educational needs. The key test for the revised Youth Justice Plan will be if we see the downward trend of offending continue, coupled with progress among those who re-offend. The outcome will be a safer city.
