Transition to Adulthood

Extending restorative justice among young adults

paulevans — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:21:17 +0000

A new report by the Restorative Justice Council, launched today, recommends that all victims of crime should be offered restorative justice, regardless of the age of the offender. Currently, restorative justice is less available to the victims of crimes committed by young adults (aged 18-25) than victims of crimes committed by young people aged 17, despite its proven benefits to victims and in helping people turn away from a life of crime.

The report, Restorative Justice for Young Adults: Factoring in Maturity and Facilitating Desistance, which was produced on behalf of the Barrow Cadbury Trust and the Transition to Adulthood Alliance, found that lack of maturity among young adults can impact upon the practice of restorative justice, where there is an increased tendency for young adults to have chaotic lifestyles, dependence on family members, low levels of emotional literacy, difficulties in accepting responsibility and a lack of a sense of agency (or belief that they have the potential to do something positive). The report recommends that restorative practitioners are made aware of these challenges and suggests ways in which each can be handled successfully.

Author Ian Marder reviewed the academic literature on desistance in order to suggest six ways in which participation in restorative justice can help young adults put their offending past behind them. This research builds on Ministry of Justice findings that restorative justice reduced the frequency of reoffending among all age groups by 14%.

You can read the report in full at the Restorative Justice Council and see also Maturity, young adults and criminal justice: A literature review, a University of Birmingham Study for the Transition to Adulthood Alliance.

Invitation to tender for a major new research project

Max — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:21:29 +0000

The Barrow Cadbury Trust, which convenes and funds the work of the T2A Alliance, would like to invite applications for the delivery of a major research project to evaluate a new initiative due to start later in 2013: The T2A Pathway.

T2A Pathway

In early summer 2013, Barrow Cadbury Trust intends to select and fund a network of projects operating across the T2A Pathway to demonstrate how services can be developed locally and to illustrate how, in principle, a ‘whole pathway approach’ could be commissioned in a given locality.

It is intended that these projects will operate across England and Wales, and will start in late 2013, running for up to three years. These projects will be led by voluntary sector organisations that already have a track record or an existing project to build on, and will be delivered in partnership with statutory agencies. There are likely to be 6 projects.

T2A Pathway Evaluation

An evaluation of the T2A Pathway will be formative and summative in nature, and will begin before the Pathway projects go live and run until after the projects end. The evaluation will assist with establishing base line data at each project site, and provide practical assistance to the projects to ensure that data are collected correctly and consistently. Each Pathway project is likely to be quite different, and operating at different points in the criminal justice process. It is not intended that the evaluation will be a comparison between the projects, rather an assessment of each project’s impact at its particular stage in the process and an exploration of commonalities.

The evaluation is subject to a maximum budget of £120,000;
The research will begin in July 2013, and complete no later than early 2017;
The research will draw data from the T2A Pathway projects;
The T2A Pathway projects are time limited to up to three years; and
The T2A Pathway projects are likely to be relatively small in scope, meaning that the project is unlikely to draw data from a large numbers of service users.

For organisations interested in tendering for the research, a supporting document outlining the detail of the T2A Pathway project is available on request.

Contact and timetable

Applications should be submitted electronically in Word format by 5pm on Monday 20^th May 2013 to Max Rutherford, Criminal Justice Programme Manager at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, onm.rutherford@barrowcadbury.org.uk

The tendering process will begin on Tuesday 30^th April 2013.
All applications for the evaluation must be received by 5pm on Monday 20^th May 2013.
A shortlist of three applicants will be selected and notified on Friday 24^th May 2013
These applicants will be interviewed on Wednesday 29^th May 2013
The chosen applicant will be offered the contract on Friday 31^st May 2013
The evaluation process will start in July 2013.

N.B. The selected applicant will be asked to present the evaluation research methodology at T2A Alliance members’ meeting on Monday 3^rd June 2013

If you have any questions about the project or the tendering process, please contact Max Rutherford, Criminal Justice Programme Manager at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, at m.rutherford@barrowcadbury.org.uk or 020 7632 9066. You can find more information about Barrow Cadbury Trust at www.barrowcadbury.org.uk and about T2A at www.t2a.org.uk

FILM: T2A Chair Joyce Moseley OBE speaks on youth transitions

paulevans — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:35:35 +0000

Transition to Adulthood Alliance Chair Joyce Moseley OBE spoke at a Youth Justice Board (YJB) and National Offender Management Service (NOMS) event marking the launch of new protocols for youth to adult transition processes in the community.

Speaking at the event, Joyce noted the fact that while young adults are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice process, with the right targeted support they are also most likely desist from crime. You can watch film of Joyce speaking below:

You can read more about the new Youth to Adult Transitions Framework here.

T2A Chair welcomes Select Committee findings on youth justice

paulevans — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:24:21 +0000

Responding to the House of Commons Justice Committee’s report on Youth Justice, Joyce Moseley OBE, Chair of the Transition to Adulthood Alliance, commented:

“The Justice Committee’s findings further underline the importance of a commissioning strategy which reflects the very distinct needs of young adults in the criminal justice process.

“It’s particularly encouraging that the Committee has given such a strong endorsement to the necessity of maturity being considering in sentencing, and crucially to the need for more effective transitions between youth and adult services, both in the community and the secure estate.”

You can read the Justice Committee’s report in full here.

Harriet Baldwin MP praises “impressive results” of T2A pilot

paulevans — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:58:52 +0000

On Friday 22nd March Harriet Baldwin MP visited the West Merica Transition to Adulthood pilot project, delivered by the youth charity YSS, commenting afterwards: “It makes so much sense to work with younger offenders to try to address the problems that might lead to reoffending”.

She was joined on the visit by Barrie Sheldon, West Merica’s new Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, who added: “The Police and Crime Commissioner is fully supportive of the work being done in West Mercia to shape better lives for young people caught up in the Criminal Justice System and Care Farms such as the Fold are providing a key service to communities. The work of the YSS Transition to Adulthood project is both creative and innovative.”

The West Worcestershire MP, who is also Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Employment Minister, had the opportunity to hear first-hand the experiences of the service users on the project. A lively discussion followed, touching on accommodation issues, employment, part time courses, difficulties in accessing full time courses if receiving Job Seeker’s Allowance, the lack of things to do that are not expensive and transport issues.

Harriett Baldwin and Barrie Sheldon were also joined by Eric Wood, Deputy PCC for Warwickshire, and were hosted by Chair of YSS Trustees Lady Susanna McFarlane, Rob Smith, Chief Executive YSS, together with Les King, West Mercia Probation Trust Worcestershire Deputy Head and Keith Barham, Head of West Mercia YOS.

Home Affairs Committee response to ASB Bill

paulevans — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:36:52 +0000

The Home Affairs Select Committee has today published its Report on the draft Anti-social Behaviour Bill. The Committee welcomed a departure from automatic criminlisation for breach of Injunction, and emphasised that officers must have discretion to choose appropriate Community Remedies. The Committee also calls for a stronger “community trigger” to ensure that authorities respond adequately to complaints.

In its submission to the Committee, that Transition to Adulthood Alliance made the case that Anti-social behaviour tools and legislation must be supported by services that give police more community based options, and support restorative solutions, specifically tailored for young adults.

The Alliance encouraged local working which supports diversion and more effective transitions between children’s and adults services, proposed that PPCs take a lead in tackling young adult reoffending locally and submitted that where community consultations occur, mechanisms in place that support meaningful engagement with young adults.

You can read the Home Affairs Committee’s Report in full on the Parliament website.

Peter Luff MP meets young adults at T2A pilot project

paulevans — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:31:39 +0000

Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff has paid a visit to the Transition to Adulthood’s West Mercia pilot project, delivered by youth charity YSS.

Peter Luff was hosted by Lorraine Preece Director of Operations and Business Development YSS, alongside Manjinder Purewal, West Mercia Probation Trust Worcestershire Assistant Chief Officer and Phil Kendrick, YOS Performance Quality and Commissioning Manager, West Mercia YOS.

David Andrewartha, acting Team Manager YSS, and T2A Keyworker Alison Steedman together with three young service users gave the opportunity for the MP to hear first-hand some of the experiences of the young adults taking part in the programme.

They shared their views on a number of issues including employment, the lack of affordable rented accommodation, services for those with mental health issues and the need to provide better education on drugs in schools about the impact drugs.

Following his visit, Peter Luff commented: “I saw that it is perfectly possible to turn around young lives and give people who have fallen into bad company or made serious errors of judgement a completely fresh start. The testimony I heard from young offenders about the effectiveness and importance of this scheme was really impressive and I congratulate everyone involved.”

At a time when the future of probation is being much debated, it is particularly important for Members of Parliament to learn at first-hand about the results that can be achieved through holistic services, in which the third sector and statutory services work in partnership.

CPS confirm maturity to be factor in culpability

paulevans — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:33:00 +0000

The Transition to Adulthood Alliance has welcomed the publication by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, of a new definitive Code of Conduct for the Crown Prosecution Service, which for the first time includes the concept of maturity in guidance on assessing culpability.

Sitting alongside the recent inclusion of maturity in the Sentencing Council’s guidelines, this represents a major step forward in establishing the concept of maturity throughout the criminal justice process.

The Criminal Justice Alliance, on behalf of the T2A Alliance, is shortly to publish a report including interviews with Crown Prosecutors, exploring their views on developmental maturity. The report will be published in full on the T2A Alliance website.

Worcester MP visits T2A pilot

paulevans — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:03:50 +0000

Robin Walker MP, Worcester’s Conservative Member of Parliament, has made a visit to the West Mercia Transition to Adulthood pilot project.

The project, delivered by the charity YSS, partners young adults who have come into contact with the criminal justice process with voluntary caseworkers who can help them to avoid reoffending and support them through the various challenges they face in their life.

Meeting young people who are currently participating in the project, Robin Walker MP heard how service users benefit from support in developing their confidence, finding work and gaining access to affordable housing. After the meeting, he commented:

“It is very clear that this is a scheme that works and makes a real difference to young people who want to get on the straight and narrow and avoid re-offending. I am delighted to see such clear proof that the voluntary sector can deliver in this area and I think it is vital that the new reforms are structured in a way that builds on this excellent work. It is absolutely right that the Government should be introducing reforms to improve the support available to all offenders and particularly those whose crimes are relatively small, but who might need just a little extra help. It is welcome that the public probation service will continue to deal with the most serious and high risk cases.”

Following last week’s Government announcements on probation reform, the Worcester MP raised the successful model of partnership working between statutory services and local voluntary organisations with the Secretary of State for Justice. You can read that in exchange in full at the Hansard website.

Visit the YSS website to read about the visit in more detail.

Inspectorate of Probation highlights poor transition to adulthood for young offenders in the care system

Max — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:54:06 +0000

A report published today by the Inspectorate of Probation, Ofsted and Estyn has found that few young people under the supervision of both the care services and Youth Offending Teams were well prepared or supported for transition to adulthood and that successful transition to adulthood is compromised by the disruption caused by frequent moves.

The inspectors sought to find out how effectively youth offending teams worked with this small yet highly vulnerable group and how well they planned and co-ordinated their work with colleagues in other agencies.

The report finds that, despite the hard work and effort of many YOT staff, the overall outcomes and future life chances for these children and young people are extremely poor. The fact that they were away from their home areas and were moved frequently militated against their chances of rehabilitation. The fact of being looked after could escalate a child into the criminal justice system.

Chief Inspector of Probation, Liz Calderbank, said on behalf of all inspectorates:

“This very specific group of children and young people are among the most damaged in the care system. By the time they are placed out of area it is likely that most will have had a number of placements fail. They are vulnerable and, in some cases, potentially dangerous. They need both protection and work to help them stop offending. At the same time, others may need to be protected from them. Work to engage, help and support them is difficult and is made significantly more so when they are moved around. While there is much commitment and hard work accorded them by YOT staff and others, agencies do not always work effectively together in the best interests of the child or young person. Despite the allocation of significant resources, they have poor initial and longer term outcomes.”

The report, entitled ‘Looked After Children: An inspection of the work of Youth Offending Teams with children and young people who are Looked After and placed away from home’ can be read here: http://www.hmcpsi.gov.uk/cjji/inspections/inspection_no/594/