How can I find out more about the youth justice system?

Technical terms are often used when describing aspects of youth offending. Below are the most commonly used terms arranged in order of least to most serious consequences.

Reprimand

Issued to first-time offenders for minor offences by the police. Serves as an official conviction and warning that next time the punishment will be more serious.

Final warning

Further offending following a reprimand or a more serious first offence, can result in a final warning being issued. A final warning involves the police referring the offender to the youth offending team who will assess the young person, and where necessary design a programme of activity with the young person to tackle the causes and consequences of their actions. Any further offending will result in a formal charge and being sent to court.

Community penalties

These are:

• action plan orders
• supervision orders
• community rehabilitation orders
•  community punishment orders

Asset

YOT’s assess each young offender with a new national standardised tool called asset. This is used to determine the specific problems of the individual and what risk they pose to others and to themselves. The findings from this assessment are used to inform any subsequent work with that young person in order to prevent further offending

Referral order

A referral order involves the court referring the offender to a Youth Offender Panel. These orders are only issued to youths who have not previously been convicted and if they admit their guilt.

If you need more information about referral orders you can contact us online.

Youth offender panels

If sentenced to a Referral Order an offender will be referred to a Youth Offender Panel, which involves volunteer members of the community, carers, parents, victims and the young offender, agreeing a plan of action in the form of a 'contract' to repair the harm done to the victim and to prevent any future offending. They ensure young offenders take responsibility for their behaviour by giving victims a chance to say how committing the offence has affected them. 

If you need more information about youth offender panels you can contact us online.

Reparation order

A reparation order is a way of dealing with young people between the ages of 10 and 17 who appear before a court. The order will involve reparation work, not exceeding a total of 24 hours, being made to the victim or community. This can take many forms.

If you need more information about reparation orders you can contact us online.

Reparation work

The idea is for the young offender to make some kind of reparation to the victim or work carried out in and for the benefit of the local community. This can form a part of community penalties.

Action plan order

An action plan order is a way of dealing with young people between the ages of 10 and 17. A youth court will issue this type of order that will require the young offender to complete any number of specific tasks, such as:

• participating in activities
• staying away from specified places
• attending work groups
• monitored school attendance

If you need more information about action plan orders you can contact us online.

Supervision orders

A supervision order issued by a court is a more demanding sentence which can involve a range of requirements including drug treatment, residence requirements and curfews. The order may also involve reparation work and can last for a period of up to three years.

If you need more information about supervision orders you can contact us online.

Residence requirements

Usually part of a supervision order. The young offender is required to live in local authority accommodation.

Detention and training order

This is a custodial sentence in a detention and training centre for 12-17 year olds. It combines detention with training and will be used for young people who commit a serious offence or a number of offences. Half of the sentence will be spent in custody and the other half will be supervised by the YOT in the community.

If you need more information about detention and training orders you can contact us online.

Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs)

ASBOs are a way of tackling persistent anti-social behaviour. They are designed to protect people whose lives are disrupted by the actions of specific individuals and not to punish those perpetrators. They can be used for a variety of offences and can ban people from doing things in specific places and sometimes from entering certain areas on a map (exclusion zones). ASBOs can be applied for in relation to any individual aged 10 and over and last for a minimum of 2 years.

Intensive supervision and surveillance programme (ISSP)

This programme is aimed at the most prolific offenders and involves a minimum of 25 hours contact a week, electronic tagging, voice verification and intensive work with young people and their families.

Mediation

Mediation involves a victim of crime and the young offender meeting in person for the offender to make a verbal apology.

Mentoring scheme

Provides young offenders with an adult role model to give them direction and support and involve the local community in helping young people to improve their behaviour.

Parenting order

Parenting orders are designed to offer the parents weekly guidance and training sessions for up to three months on topics such as parenting skills, preventing your child re-offending or helping parents with attendance problems at school. Such orders can also include parents ensuring their child is at home during set hours and appropriately supervised. 

If you need more information about parenting orders you can contact us online.

Youth inclusion support services (YISS)

The YISS team work with young people who are not offenders but are identified as on the brink of offending behaviour. They will accept self-referrals from young people who feel they need extra support to stay away from offending behaviour or from parents and carers who may be concerned about their child becoming a young offender. You can contact the YISS team on (01482) 396623 for a self referral.

Youth justice system

The youth justice system in England and Wales, comprises YOTs, the police, the youth courts, and the institutions where young people are held in custody. The youth justice system has one overall aim, to prevent youth offending.

Youth justice board (YJB)

Is a non-departmental government body that monitors performance of the YOTs in England and Wales against their individual youth justice plans to ensure national standards are met and maintained.

The YJB's aims and objectives are:

• confronting young offenders with the consequences of their offending
• punishment proportionate to the seriousness and persistence of offending
• encouraging reparation to victims by young offenders
• reinforcing parents' responsibilities
• swift administration of justice
• and interventions that target particular factors which put a young person at risk of offending.

Restorative justice

Restorative justice is a set of principles that offers an alternative way of dealing with crime. It is based on the belief that crime is not just an act perpetrated against the state but an act that damages relationships amongst people within a community. It uses healing as a real alternative to retribution and punishment by balancing the concerns of the community with the need to reintegrate the offender into society.

Restorative justice can involve:

• consulting with victims and offenders about what happened and what might happen in the future
• involving relevant community members in helping the victim to recover and offenders to take responsibility for their actions
• assessing the reasons for particular offences and taking steps to help reduce the risk of them being repeated
• being flexible so the steps taken can be adjusted to individual circumstances avoiding 'assembly line justice'
• all agencies working together to the common aims of restoring victims and offenders to a supportive community

Healing the harm can be made directly to the victim in the form of dialogue, an apology, compensation or the carrying out of an activity that benefits the victim or the wider community. For example, a victim might ask the offender to repair for the damage to their property or recommend the offender do some work for a local community centre.

Data protection

The youth offending team keeps information about you for as long as necessary in performing its statutory duties, in paper and electronic form. Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to a copy of the information held about you, subject to certain restrictions. If you wish to access this information please see our parenting worker or contact the youth offending team administrative and information officer, who will explain the process.

Complaints procedure

If you consider that you have been treated unfairly during your contact with the Youth Offending Team, you have the right to complain. You should first discuss the matter with the worker concerned or his/her manager. If you are not satisfied with the outcome then you can contact the youth offending team manager on (01482) 396623.

Who is responsible for dealing with young offenders?

The Youth Offending Team (YOT) typically includes social workers, education welfare officers, police officers, probation officers and health and substance misuse workers. 

The East Riding of Yorkshire YOT are divided into three teams which each deal with a different area of the youth justice system by working directly with young people, victims of crime and the local community.

Intervention team

The intervention team supervise orders made by courts on offenders aged 10 to 17. The aim of the intervention team is to prevent offenders re-offending by intervening at an early stage with programmes of work. Such programmes can last between 3 months and 2 years and can include work on peer pressure, victim awareness and offending behaviour.  

Within the intervention team is the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP). This is an alternative to a custodial sentence. The ISSP is a very intensive programme and there is a minimum of 25 hours a week contact-time that includes education, training or employment combined with programmes of intervention.

Prevent and deter is a government strategy managed by the intervention team, which targets prolific offenders. More intensive intervention measures are put in place and any re-offending is dealt with swiftly.

The intervention team also deal with resettlement into society, following a custodial sentence. This is usually part of a detention and training order when the offender spends half the sentence in a detention centre and the remaining half in the community under supervision by the intervention team in order to become resettled into society. This is achieved by programmes of intervention and reparation.  

The team includes a seconded health worker from the NHS trust who provides guidance on issues of general and mental health and a seconded specialist substance misuse social worker who works with young offenders experiencing drug and/or alcohol misuse.

Finally, the intervention team co-ordinate the parenting officers who work with the parents of young offenders on a voluntary basis or as part of a parenting order. Parenting officers can offer parents time to talk about their experiences as a parent. They can offer short or longer term support on a one-to-one basis and access to positive parenting groups which allows parents to share their worries and concerns with other parents.

Assessment team

The assessment team includes the court team who attend the youth courts and provide magistrates with information about youth offenders so that an appropriate sentence can be given.

The assessment team also assess all youth offenders using an assessment tool known as asset. The assessment informs the type of interventions required for an offender’s individual needs.

When a young person is subject to a referral order the assessment team assesses the young person and provides a report for the youth offending panel outlining the circumstances of the offence and details about the offender and his/her family. 

The assessment team’s seconded police officer has responsibility for those young offenders issued with a final warning by the police and co-ordinates appropriate intervention.

Prevention team

The prevention team manage the Youth Inclusion Support Services (YISS) that work with young people who are not offenders but are identified as on the brink of offending behaviour. The prevention team organise community projects and schemes to provide purposeful and engaging activities for young people at risk of offending. Schemes operate in school holidays to keep young people off the streets and to stimulate their interest in sport, drama, arts and other activities. Evaluations have shown that the preventative community projects can result in reductions in crime of up to 40%.

The YISS team will accept self-referrals from young people who feel they need extra support to stay away from offending behaviour or from parents and carers who may be concerned about their child becoming a young offender they can be contacted on (01482) 396623.

The youth inclusion programme (YIP)

Youth Inclusion Programmes are tailor-made programmes for 13 to 16-year-olds who are engaged in crime or are identified as being most at risk of offending, truancy, or social exclusion.

YIPs target young people in a neighbourhood who are considered to be most at risk of offending, but are also open to other young people in the local area. The programme currently operates in Goole and is being delivered by the youth service under a service level agreement with the youth offending team (YOT). 

YIPs aim to reduce youth crime in neighbourhoods. Young people on the YIP are identified through a number of different agencies who work together. These include the youth offending team (YOT), police, social services, local education authorities or schools, other local agencies and the community. 

The programme gives young people somewhere safe to go where they can learn new skills, take part in activities with others and get help with their education and careers guidance. Positive role models, the workers and volunteer mentors, help to change young people's attitudes to education and crime.

How do we tackle youth offending in the East Riding?

East Riding youth offending team is a multi-agency service, consisting of staff from Humberside Police, the National Probation Service, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, East Yorkshire Primary Care Trust, Yorkshire Wolds, Coast Primary Care Trust, and Connexions Humber Service, with the single aim of preventing offending children and young people.   

Youth offending teams form part of the youth justice system in England and Wales, which also comprises of the police, youth courts, and the institutions where young people are held in custody. The youth justice system has one overall aim - to prevent youth offending.   

Young people who offend are systematically assessed, helped and directed to change their behaviour, appropriately punished and encouraged to compensate the victims of crimes. 

“The main aim of the youth justice system is to prevent offending and change behaviour in the future. I hope there is growing public understanding of the commitment of so many people at local level to help save many individuals from a life of crime – and many communities from the consequences of those crimes.”

Lord Warner, former chairman of the youth justice board.

What help is given to first-time offenders?

For young first-time offenders triage is given.

It is a way of diverting youths from the criminal justice system if they are admitting a simple crime. They are assessed by the Youth Offending Team and if suitable receive crime prevention sessions and intervention work to turn them away from re-offending.

They are not recorded as an offender at this time.

How are the victims of young offenders included in the conviction process?

Every victim of a convicted juvenile offender will be contacted by the police officer attached to the Youth Offending Team (YOT). This will be by letter after the court conviction. The letter explains the sentence and invites the victim to be involved where appropriate.

The police officer follows up the letter by telephone contact and home visits when required or requested. They obtain the victims views about the offence the offender and the harm done. They also ask how the harm can be put right, and if possible deliver this through letters of apology to face-to-face meetings, or arranging direct or indirect reparation work which is supervised by the YOT.

Throughout the order the Victim Liaison Officer is available for help and advice and when requested will update victims on any changes, for instance if the offender breaches the order and is returned to court, or that they have successfully completed the order without re-offending.

If specialist support or advice is needed the victims are informed of help they can access, such as victim support.

If you need more information please contact:

Victim Liaison Officer for the East Riding
PC 2457 Dave Kennedy
Youth Offending Team (YOT)
Tel: (01482) 396623

How can I help the youth offending team in their work?

We need youth offender panel members who can represent their local community. That means men and women of any age (18 or over) and from every ethnic and social background who are good at listening and talking. How do I join the youth offending panel?

What is a youth offender panel?

If sentenced to a referral order, an offender will be referred to a youth offender panel, which involves volunteer members of the community, carers, parents, victims and the young offender, agreeing a plan of action in the form of a 'contract' to repair the harm done to the victim and to prevent any future offending. They ensure young offenders take responsibility for their behaviour by giving victims a chance to say how committing the offence has affected them.

If you need more information about youth offender panels you can contact us online.

Can I join the youth offending panel?

If sentenced to a referral order an offender will be referred to a youth offender panel, which involves volunteer members of the community, carers, parents, victims and the young offender, agreeing a plan of action in the form of a 'contract' to repair the harm done to the victim and to prevent any future offending. They ensure young offenders take responsibility for their behaviour by giving victims a chance to say how committing the offence has affected them.

If you need more information about joining the youth offender panel you can contact us online.

Will I be trained?

We don’t expect people to have all the skills necessary to be a youth offender panel member from the start. We will provide both initial and regular training once you become a panel member.

How much of my time will it take?

This can vary according to how many referral orders are made in your area but it could be for about 2-3 hours a week, approximately 20-40 weeks of the year.

If you need more information about joining the youth offender panel you can contact us online.