Youth Justice Plan 2007 to 2008
ACTION PLAN
REDUCE RE-OFFENDING
TARGET; Achieve a reduction in re-offending rates by 5% in 2007/8, when compared with the 2002-03 re-offending cohort, with respect to each of the four populations (Pre Court, First Tier, Community Penalties and Release from Custody)
Overview
The YOS achieved lower than average reconviction performance in 2005/06 and subsequently carried out a benchmarking exercise against other similar YOTs. The outcomes were inconclusive, but did highlight the multi-factorial nature of re-conviction rates and that not all the factors are directly under the control of the YOS. There was no correlation between high recidivism performance and high KPI, National Standards or EPQA performance. The YOS has focused activity on reducing re-offending after a young person receives a reprimand (an LAA target), ensuring that work follows effective practice principles and improving the quality of service delivery.
The Youth Justice Board have changed the target from 24 month to 12 month re-offending performance. The reduction in re-offending required remains at 5% in each of the four areas measured
Achievements in 2006/7
- Overall re-offending has reduced from 36.4% in 2002 to 32.1% , a reduction of 11.8%
- Pre court re-offending is down 10% on last year’s performance but is 21.7% higher than the 2002 cohort base line.
- First tier penalties (-14.1%) and released from custody (-33.4%) re-offending rates have both exceeded the 5% target by significant margins
- Community penalties (-3.4%) re-offending has shown an improvement of 4.4% over last year. This is just short of the 5% reduction target.
- Fewer than 50% of those identified as PPOs in August 2005 had reoffended by September 2006 and many of those who did reoffend did so less seriously and/or less frequently.
- Indications so far are that the YOS is likely to meet the LAA target to increase the percentage of young people prevented from further offending after a reprimand by 6% by March 2009 (i.e. to reduce re-offending post-reprimand by 6%). This should contribute to an overall reduction in reoffending.
- Looked After Children re-offending ratio (percentage of looked after children’s offending compared to the children in the community) improved from 4.2 to 2.8, moving performance into the highest performance band.
Focus for 2007/8
- Work towards the 6% reduction in reoffending post-reprimand to be achieved by June 2009.
- Provide additional interventions for PPOs to reduce recidivism in this group of young people.
- Complete an audit of interventions to ensure that assessments are reflected in intervention plans, that intervention plans are SMART and that interventions take place as planned.
- Liaise with those YOTs that perform well to learn lessons from best practice.
Data:
| Reduce-Offending | 2002 12month cohort | 2005 12 month cohort | Recidivism 12 month re-offending target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre court | 18.4% | 22.5% (+ 21.7%)* | 5% |
| First Tier | 46.9% | 40.30% (- 14.1%) | 5% |
| Community Penalties | 68.9% | 66.2% (- 3.9%) | 5% |
| Custody | 100% | 66.60% (- 33.4%) | 5% |
| Overall Re-offending | 36.4% | 32.1% (- 11.8%) |
*Figures in Brackets are the percentage change in re-offending between the 2002 12month cohort and the 2005 12 month cohort.
Page Last Updated: 1 June 2007
