Agenda item

This report summarises the latest local information on rates of young people entering the youth justice system. The reduction that had been seen in the previous year has continued and further steps are being taken to divert young people from the justice system.

The Service Manager, Dorset Combined Youth Justice Service presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report summarised the latest local information on rates of young people entering the youth justice system. The reduction that had been seen in the previous year has continued and further steps are being taken to divert young people from the justice system.

The Committee discussed the Report and comments were made, including:

• In response to a query about the reduction of girls entering the system but not the boys, the Committee was advised there was no particular reason for this but the proportion and it was inline the national average.  It was highlighted that there was no specific targeted approach for boys and whilst some needs were common, boys were more likely to have higher speech and language needs and less likely to be in mainstream or full time education which could be a contributory factor.
• In response to whether figures had been supressed as a result of Covid and lockdowns and could increase moving forward, the Committee was advised this was difficult to answer as there was so many different factors which could have an impact.  The Committee was advised that lockdown did enable the police to catch up and arrest young people from historic offences, because their location during lockdown was more easily identifiable however it was acknowledged that problems that were accruing as a result of the pandemic, such as low attendance at school, mental wellbeing, exploitation may lead to an increase in figures which highlights the need for early intervention and a coordinated response across services.
• There was clarification between the definitions of preventative measures and diversion tactics and the Committee was advised that prevention would be targeted from other services and not YOS, however it was vital to assist the reduction of young people entering the system. Diversion was used by YOS using a different response instead of offenders entering the system. 
• In response to a query regarding the figures relating to ‘White Other’ in the data, the Committee was advised that upon investigation this appeared to be as a result of differing ethnicity recording processes by the Police and that in the future, YOS would record the self identified ethnicity of its users, which it was believed would change more of this data to ‘White British’
• In response to a query, the Committee was given a detailed explanation of the different restorative justice practices used by YOS, which included making contact with victim of all offenders who come into system and enabling offenders to see the impact of behaviour using various appropriate methods
• A Member expressed concern about the increased figure of 11-13 year olds entering the system and whilst it was a relatively small number, the Service Manager acknowledged that it was a cause for concern as historically offenders who entered the system at that age end up having higher contact with the YJS through adolescence. It was an issue which the Service Manager confirmed needed to be focused on.

The Chair summed up the discussions as follows:

• Girls entering the system and gender biased
• Covid and lockdown impact
• Engagement – diversion and prevention
• ‘Other white’ numbers – ethnicity
• Restorative justice methods
• Young entrants and warning signs.

RESOLVED that the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the progress being made to reduce the rate of first-time entrants into the youth justice system.