Contact: P. Sutton, Head of Youth Offending Services, Tel No 01962 876100

[email protected]

1. Introduction

The "Justice for All" White Paper sets out the Government's proposed response to two major reports:

· Auld Report: Review of the Criminal Courts of England and Wales

· Halliday Report: Making Punishments Work: Review of the Sentencing Framework for England and Wales

The central theme of the planned reforms is "to rebalance the criminal justice system in favour of the victim and the community so as to reduce crime and bring more offenders to justice".

This report sets out the main implications of the reforms for the Youth Justice System.

Responses to the White Paper may be submitted up until 9^th October 2002.

2. Five Practical Steps

The White Paper sets out an ambitious target of contributing to the creation of a criminal justice system that meets the needs of society and wins the trust of citizens, by convicting the guilty, acquitting the innocent and reducing offending and re-offending.

The five practical steps towards this aim are:

i) reducing offending whilst on bail,

ii) building strong cases to put before the court,

iii) new procedures which get the case to trial quickly, with reduced chance of the accused "playing the system" and escaping justice if guilty,

iv) simplifying and modernising our approach to evidence, and

v) effective sentencing and punishment that works.

3. Reviewing Recent Successes

The Youth Justice System is referred to favourably throughout the White Paper. Yot partnerships and the juvenile secure estate are observed to have:

· exceeded the Government's targets to reduce court delay for persistent young offenders;

· reduced reconviction rates by 14% since 1997, exceeding the target of a 5% reduction;

· pioneered the concepts of restorative justice and victim/offender mediation;

· improved the regimes in the secure estate so that young people spend their time constructively.

These successes will influence the way the criminal justice system operates across all age groups in the future.

4. Proposals for Change

The White Paper makes a number of specific proposals for change. The paragraphs relevant to the youth justice system are quoted below. A short commentary follows each one, which could form the substance of a response to Government.

Information Systems

19. Para 1.18 "All parts of the (criminal justice) system need to work seamlessly together ..... Cases need to be managed efficiently ... Our goal is that all CJS professionals will be able to securely e-mail each other by 2003, ... exchange case file information electronically by 2005, and (that) victims will begin to be able to track the progress of their case on-line by 2005".

We support the principles of linked information systems and improving victims' access to information. Yots have invested heavily in I.T. systems (with assistance from the Youth Justice Board), including training of staff. It will be important to build on existing systems (which are usually linked to local authority networks) rather than buy new equipment and software which requires extensive retraining of staff.

Victims

2.49 "As resources become available we will appoint Victim Liaison Officers to provide cover for all 154 Youth Offending Teams in England and Wales. This will mean more victims being contacted and encouraged and supported to get involved in restorative justice if they wish, and reparation of (sic) young offenders."

We support additional investment in communication with victims. However, we hope that any allocation of new funds will not be prejudicial to Yots which have already identified resources locally for this important work. In addition, some further thought needs to be given to the funding of practical reparation projects. Supervising young people undertaking practical work for their local community is extremely resource-intensive, and generally requires one-to-one oversight by a well trained supervisor."

Remands

3.41 "We aim to extend existing foster remand arrangements to include highly supervised and supported foster placements for persistent young offenders on bail ... We would be proactive to ensure that we attract foster parents from all parts of the community."

In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight we have operated a specialist remand fostering scheme through a partnership with NCH since 1997. The scheme has successfully managed in the community some serious and persistent offenders who would otherwise have been placed in secure accommodation. There have been difficulties in recruiting sufficient foster carers of the right calibre. We welcome an initiative that promotes the potential of remand fostering. This should be aimed at encouraging a greater range of suitable carers to come forward, and also at persuading courts of the effectiveness of specialist fostering."

Dealing with serious crimes

4.36 "We ... propose to provide for strengthened youth courts to deal with young offenders accused of serious crimes. Juveniles facing such charges without adult co-defendants would be dealt with by the youth court, presided over by a judge, with two experienced lay magistrates in support."

We fully support the principle of keeping youth defendants in the youth court. The majority of young offenders who are sentenced in the Crown Court received sentences which are well within the Magistrate's sentencing powers. We prefer that no distinction is made between young people over 16 years of age and under 16 in this respect. The youth court is the proper court for all young people up to the age of 18 years.

4.38 "We also need to consider the approach to take in cases where there are adult co-defendants, and they cannot be tried separately.".

We support the Government's preferred approach in these cases, which is that the Crown Court should be given the right to decide the venue for the trial at a preliminary hearing.

Magistrates

4.40 "We will reform the system by which lay Magistrates are authorised to hear youth and family cases. We propose that the system of `panels' will be replaced by a system of personal authorisation ... The system will continue to operate locally ... but the authorisation process will be more transparent and consistent, and based on competencies."

These proposals are welcomed as they are designed to strengthen the youth panel by ensuring, in an objective way, that magistrates remain competent to undertake work in the youth court.

Sentencing

5.53 "We will bring forward legislation to broaden the scope and strengthen the Action Plan Order ... The extended Action Plan Order would include the additional options of curfews, intensive fostering, residence requirements and Intensive Supervision and Surveillance. We will make it available for up to 12 months rather than the current 3 months ..."

The three month Action Plan Order has, in our area, become the "first choice" sentence for offences which are serious enough for a community penalty. More Action Plan Orders are imposed than Supervision Orders. However, there are difficulties over enforcement, as the alleged breach has to be proved during the life-time of the order. Time-tabling of enforcement procedures has been difficult. We would prefer to retain this short, focussed three month order, but with amendments which will allow for breach proceedings to be heard after the end of the three months.

The Government's proposals, if enacted, will signal the demise of the Supervision Order. We are concerned that a young offender who commits an offence while subject to an Action Plan Order will, in the absence of the Supervision Order, become more likely to receive a custodial penalty. We are also concerned that young offenders who have long-term needs for supervision and support (such as some adolescent sex offenders) may not have their needs met within a twelve month Action Plan Order.

5.54 "We will enable the courts to request drug treatment as part of a range of community sentences (including the Action Plan Order) where a young person's substance misuse is identified as contributing to offending behaviour."

Substance Misuse Workers in Yots already provide a level of treatment for young people with substance misuse problems and we would not foresee difficulties in implementing this proposal.

5.55 "In the longer term we intend to consult on how best to simplify and improve community sentences for juveniles ... "

We agree that the range of sentences has become extremely confusing for practitioners, and especially so to young offenders, their families and their victims. The proposals in 5.53 and 5.54 (above) only serve to increase the range of penalties. Some simplification is overdue.

5.56 "As an alternative to custody we are looking at ways to develop and pilot intensive fostering. It would be particularly appropriate for ...... 10 and 11 year old cases ..."

In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight we have 5 years experience of running a remand fostering scheme, and 1 year experience of providing fostering for offenders on release from a Detention and Training Order. We have recently extended the length of time that young people can remain in the foster placement at the end of the remand period, if they receive a community sentence. We would be willing to be a pilot site for intensive fostering, and would want the pilot also to include young offenders over the age of 11 years.

10 and 11 year olds

5.58 "In addition to developing intensive fostering we propose to allow a criminal court to require a Local Authority to report back to the court within a 48 -hour period on how it would exercise its responsibilities if the court decided to remand the child to the care of the Local Authority. We will also create a power; similar to that which family proceedings courts currently have under the 1989 Children Act, allowing courts to direct a Local Authority to undertake an investigation into the child's circumstances, in order to ascertain whether grounds appear to exist to justify applying for a care or supervision order."

We note that these proposals are designed to "promote improved collaborative working between courts and Local Authorities in order to facilitate improved decision making that takes into account both criminal justice and social welfare issues". The sentiment behind this approach is strongly supported.

Juvenile Custodial Sentence

5.61 "We will introduce legislation to ensure that, like adults, young offenders sentenced for serious offences are released at the half-way point of the sentence and supervised all the way until the end of the sentence. In addition, we will explore introducing a Custody Plus type sentence for youth offenders which would enable courts to vary the proportion of the sentence spent in custody."

5.62 "Long periods of detention are already available to the courts, where necessary, for those who have committed the most serious violent and sexual offences. We propose to give the Parole Board control over the date of release right up to the end of the sentence."

Both of these proposals have our support

5.63 "There are some cases where the high risk which a young offender poses to the community stems directly from a serious conduct or behavioural disorder. We will consider what services should be provided for such young people, making proper allowance for their ages and potential for development."

It is already well documented that significant numbers of young people with serious mental health problems are currently inappropriately detained in prison sentence establishments. The number of places in secure hospitals for adolescents is totally inadequate. In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight a group of adolescent psychiatrists have been working with the Head of Youth Offending Services and other professionals with the aim of improving the range of treatment facilities locally for serious young offenders who show signs of mental disorder. We should like to see this proposal to "consider what services should be provided" turned into a more robust proposal significantly to expand existing provision.

5. Recommendations

It is recommended that the committee:

i. Note the report about the White Paper, Justice for All.

ii. Responds to the request for comments as outlined in this report.

P. Sutton

12.9.02

cyjc gov white paper

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents:

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB. The list schedules:

(1) Published works.

(2) Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

i. "Justice for All" H.M.S.O./ Home Office