According to the most recent youth justice statistics, arrests of children increased by 9% compared with the previous year and the youth reoffending rate increased by 0.9 percentage points, the first increase since the year ending March 2014.
Young people’s involvement in violence and experience of criminal exploitation is the result of a complex array of factors. These include entrenched social and economic issues such as poverty, school exclusion and a depletion of youth services. For children and young people, involvement in crime increases the probability of experiencing problematic outcomes in later life, including a greater likelihood of experiencing health and social problems.
In typical criminal justice systems, the approach has been predominantly punitive and people who have offended rarely have the opportunity to amend for any negative impacts they have caused. However, the UK is transitioning towards more restorative approaches that can work to reduce reoffending by encouraging the person who has offended to take accountability for their behaviour, while giving them the opportunity to understand the impact on victims and the community. Restorative programmes for children and young people who have offended have been shown to be effective at reducing relapses into criminal behaviour.
EXODUS programme
Restorative approaches underpin UpskillU’s EXODUS programme – a 12-month mentoring programme for young people aged 11 to 17 who have offended or are at risk of offending, exploitation and or victimisation.
EXODUS mentors are trained in trauma informed and strength-based approaches that they use alongside a range of therapeutic methods and techniques to examine underlying issues, challenge existing beliefs and empower young people to make positive life choices. Many of the mentors bring lived experience of the criminal justice system, the care system, school exclusion, youth violence, victimisation, adverse childhood experiences and trauma.
The EXODUS model’s theory of change is designed to provide longer term, sustained support; offering the young person time and space to develop a trusted adult relationship through a flexible blended delivery (virtual and in person). Restorative mentoring has shown signs of being particularly effective in reaching children and young people who may be more likely to engage with mentors with shared experiences when compared with other statutory services. It can help to counteract the normalisation of their behaviour and the reluctance of young people who have offended to seek help.
RCT evaluation
The EXODUS programme’s approach has an existing evidence base, but it has not been robustly evaluated with an impact evaluation. Coram’s Centre for Impact has been appointed to evaluate EXODUS and provide definitive findings on the effect of restorative mentoring on youth offending and reducing youth violence. With funding from the Youth Endowment Fund, Coram will evaluate EXODUS through a randomised controlled trial (RCT). The pilot phase of the trial began in April and if deemed feasible, the trial will progress to a full efficacy trial and will run to 2027 and report in 2028.
The primary focus of the evaluation is to assess whether young people who receive EXODUS have different offending rates to young people who receive usual support in youth offending, custody and community safety services. The impact of the intervention will be assessed against the primary outcome of self-reported criminal offending 12 months post randomisation, with secondary outcomes of violent offending, criminal exploitation, emotional and behavioural problems and trusted adult relationships also being assessed.
The trial will recruit 800 young people through three referral partners: Northamptonshire Police and Youth Justice Service; Haringey Council and Youth Justice Service; and Oakhill Secure Training Centre in Milton Keynes. Using a two-armed RCT design, young people referred to EXODUS will be randomised on a 50:50 basis to either the intervention, the EXODUS programme, or the control group, who will receive business-as-usual support.
Peer research
As part of the research, Coram has embedded a participatory approach and has trained a group of peer researchers with experience of the EXODUS programme to support with the engagement of young people in the trial. The peer researchers have received three days of training from the Coram Centre for Impact on research methods, ethical practice, safeguarding and confidentiality to confidently deliver their role. The peer researchers will meet with young people referred to the trial, to explain the research and programme, gain informed consent, complete baseline measures and liaise with the Coram study team who carry out the randomisation. The peer researchers will track each young person, regardless of randomisation outcome, and follow up with them at six and 12 months to ask them to complete the same set of outcomes measures.
There are severe long-term consequences for young people who spend time in youth custody and remain stuck in a pattern of reoffending. It is essential to take a “what works” approach to provide a strong evidence base for strategies to reduce youth offending and improve the outcomes for children, young people, their families and the wider community.
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More on Exodus from www.upskillu.co.uk
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Hannah Lawrence is principal investigator in the EXODUS evaluation and research manager at Coram www.childrenslegalcentre.com
