Youth offending team

A Youth Offending Team is a department of a UK County Council's Children and Young People's Directorate that works in conjunction with the Youth Justice Board and Criminal Justice Board. It deals with young offenders, sets up community services and reparation plans, and attempts to prevent youth recidivism and incarceration.

Their Role

A Youth Offending Team (YOT) is a statutory, multi-agency team that was set up following the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act with the intention of reducing the risk of young people offending and re-offending, and to provide council and rehabilitation to those who do offend. Youth Offending Teams engage in a wide variety of work with young offenders (those under 18) in order to achieve their aims. YOT's supervise young people who have been ordered by the court to serve sentences in the community. Particularly, teams organise meetings between offenders and victims to encourage apologies and reparation.

They also arrange for adult volunteers (Appropriate Adults) to accompany under 18's after their arrest in order to ensure that the offender receives everything they are entitled to, as well as to explain to them their legal position, their rights, and their options. When a youth is arrested and unaccompanied by an adult (relation or friend who is over 18), the station often calls the local YOT to request an appropriate adult to come to the relevant station.

Youth Offending Teams engage young offenders in a wide range of tasks designed to put something positive back into the local community through unpaid activities, as well as preventing them from re-offending. YOT's ensure that offenders have a lower chance of re-offending by performing checkups during the rehabilitation process, checking on their accommodation, friends, possibilities of coercion into offending or drug/alcohol use, and so on.

Youth Offending Team's can also provide important information relevant to a young persons case to police officers, social workers or the courts.

All members of Youth Offending Teams have expertise in areas relevant to the care and rehabilitation of young offenders. These include areas such as the Police Service, Probation Service, Social Services, the Health Service, Education, and Psychology.

Education

Education workers are one of the most important in Youth Offending Teams since a vast majority of young people are still in full time education when they offend. These workers liaise with schools and the education department where a young person is experiencing difficulties at school, particularly if there is a risk of exclusion or bullying.

Sometimes it can be useful for the education worker to offer a young person support with some particular aspect of his/her school work: study skills, coursework, or facilitating communication between the young person, the school, and the home. Education workers also arrange for the continuing education of young people who go into custody, particularly if they are still of school age. If possible, the workers ensure that the work done in school and custody are of equal content and quality.

School leavers also work with education workers if they need to acquire skills to apply for jobs, for example CV writing, form filling, interview advice and so on. Some educational workers also encourage young people to express their feelings in writing as a way to vent aggravation or to comprehend their difficult situation.

Psychology

The office of the Somerset YOT, at Street.

Meetings between psychologists and the young person, his or her family, and the victim(s) in any combination or separately, can be arranged with some Youth Offending Teams who have psychologists on staff. These meetings base themselves on the idea that a young persons behaviour and offending is linked to other problems in his life.

The meetings are informal and typically last an hour but can vary in length depending on the preference of the young person and psychologist. While these meetings are primarily for conversation, the psychologist will sometimes employ drawing or other tests to explore problems. Occasionally the psychologist will include other family members if he or she feels it is relevant. Sessions with the YOT psychologist normally occur every two to three weeks.

Reports made by the psychologist on the young person are included in that persons file, along with any other relevant information pertinent to his or her case.

The Process

Possible sentences from a Youth Court

Financial Penalty

Up to a maximum of £1000

Conditional Discharge

Length 3 months to 3 years, the young person is discharged on the condition that they do not commit any further offences within the specified period. If they re-offend they are re-sentenced for the offences for which the discharge was imposed as well as the additional matters.

Reparation Order

See below.

Action Plan Order

Length of three months, restrictions of liberty and twice a week contact with YOT. This order is seen as a short but relatively intensive and focussed piece of intervention.

Supervision Order

See below.

Curfew Order

Maximum of three months for under 16 year olds, six months for those older. Restriction of liberty at the courts discretion. These orders are to combat night time offending, requiring the young person to be in the confines of their home between 6:00pm and 6:00am, these orders can stand alone or be added alongside a community penalty.

Community Rehabilitation Order

Up to three years, this order also restricts the liberties of the young person, with weekly contact for the first three months, fortnightly for the next three, and monthly thereafter. This order is only for those over 16 years of age.

Community Punishment Order

Between 40 and 240 hours of community service, minimum of 5 hours a week, the order must be completed in 12 months after it has been issued. Note, this order and the rehabilitation order above can be combined as one.

When an offender commits an offence, and it is his or her first, the court will issue a referral order. This order is designed to prevent further offending by that young person. The referral order refers the young offender to a Youth Offending Team and places the young person in their care for as long as the court deems necessary. The Youth Offending Team will set up a Panel Meeting with the young person.

Panel meetings decide what course or action should be followed depending on the young persons situation in order to achieve the following aims:

Prevent further offending
Reparation
Giving the victim a chance to speak about their feelings and how they have been affected, this can occur in person or by letter. Communication between the victim and offender can be arranged by audio, video, letter or face to face, and is monitored by YOT team members.

A flowchart of the procedure followed by a Youth Offending Team

At the Panel Meeting, the Youth Offending Team members will listen to the views of the young person regarding the offence as well as the views of witnesses, relatives, and the police. With the Panel, these groups will agree on a contract of programs for the young offender in question. These contracts may include letters of apology to the victims, community service, or programs of advice and support. Prior to the meeting, a member of the Youth Offending Team will arrange a more informal meeting with the young person to learn more about him or her and prepare a report for the Panel in order to aid the process.

Failure to attend these Panel meetings may lead to a reappearance in court. The violation of the contract will also lead to further legal action. Appointments and meetings must be kept. At the end of the program, the referral order is finished and the young person is released from the program. When this happens, the young person will not have a criminal record, and only in the application of certain types of job (such as a teacher) would the young person ever have to mention his or her referral order.

A Reparation Order

Reparation orders can also be given by the court, attached to the referral. A member of the Youth Offending Team known as a Responsible Officer, is placed in charge of the reparation program, and will give support and advice for the offender.

During several appointments, the young person is expected to perform tasks to account for his or her actions. Reparation orders can last a maximum of three months, aiming to prevent re-offending and rehabilitate. As with other court orders, inappropriate actions (arriving for an appointments under the influence, using abusive language, violence, or non-cooperation) will lead to a written warning. Further infractions will lead to the court being notified. This will lead to it being noted that the young person has breached his reparation order and a court appearance will take place.

A Supervision Order

Like other orders attached to a referral, a supervision order is designed to stop young people from re-offending; however it is a much stricter, and longer lasting order than a reparation. A Supervising Officer from the YOT will be attached to the young person’s case and provide support and advice to the young person as he or she completes the referral and supervision order. As with the reparation order, appointments must be kept (once or twice a week for the first three months of the order, and then weeks for the second three months, and fortnightly after that) and the young person must maintain a respectful and cooperative attitude. On special occasions, when the order is at least half complete and the young person has made good progress, the supervision order may end early, although this is rare.

Like other orders, failure to comply at an acceptable level results in written warnings and then a further court appearance. In this second court appearance, the young person can be ordered to complete the program and issued with a fine, or else cancel the order if the court feels that there is a more appropriate way to deal with the young persons original offence.

A Reprimand

For more serious offences, the police issue a reprimand. In this case, a reprimand report is issued to the relevant YOT and the details are updated onto the electronic database as before. If the offender has no previous encounters with the police, a new file is created. If the offender has a previous history, the account is merely updated with the new referral from the police. Offenders are assigned to YOT Officers who oversee any community service or reparations. A reprimand is accompanied, like a referral, with certain programs such as a supervision order or reparation order.

A Final Warning

A final warning is a disposal used by the police without an offender having to appear in court. They are issued to offenders aged 10-17 for serious or repeated offences (a three strike system is most commonly used). A record is made with the police which remains in the archive of the Youth Offending Team and the police until the offender is 18, or until 5 years has passed from the administration of the Final Warning, whichever is longer. A Final Warning on a person's record influences the decision of the courts and police if a further offense is committed.

It is the objective of the Youth Offending Teams to prevent offenders from surpassing the Final Warning and strict control is imposed on those who are in danger of re-offending; failure to keep any appointments with their case officers can result in a warrant for that offender's arrest being issued by a court and/or more stricter bail conditions being imposed.

When a Final Warning is given, the offender is asked to return to the police station in 21-28 days time for the warning to be administered. The Youth Offending Team is then contacted via a Final Warning form 143 (or 143a if the final warning was administered before YOT heard about it), which is sent to the YOT for input into the database and a number of actions are taken:

The school of the offender (if there is one) is notified and any relevant information is requested from the school. Victim support is then contacted to liaise with the victim of the offender's crime. The offender is then assigned to a YOT Case Officer who oversees all aspects of the offender's rehabilitation with the Youth Offending Team, including reparations, community service, and so forth. Both Pre-Sentence-Reports and Post-Sentence-Reports on the offender are created to aid with sentencing and profiling.

Final Warnings are only given if the young person accepts that they have committed the offence. If this is not the case, legal advice must be sought from the police or Youth Offending Team in order to combat the court’s decision.

References

YOT Official Documents
YOT Employees
http://www.yjb.gov.uk/en-gb/
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/youthjustice/yot/
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/youthjustice/
Interim findings from the research study into the developing relationship between youth offending teams and children's trusts (2006)