News

AYM fears cuts from spending review could lead to higher levels of young people in custody

Youth Justice
Cuts set to be made as a result of the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review could impact on a recently introduced sentencing measure to reduce youth custody, the Association of Youth Offending Team Managers (AYM) has claimed.

Lorna Hadley, chair of the AYM, fears pressure on budgets will jeopardise aspects of the youth rehabilitation order (YRO), a community sentencing tool introduced last year under the previous government.

The YRO provides a "menu" of different community punishments for tackling offending behaviour to minimise the use of custody.

Speaking to CYP Now, Hadley said cutbacks may mean certain aspects of the order cannot be offered, which could lead to magistrates sentencing young people to custody instead.

"We don’t know if we’ll be able to resource the youth rehabilitation order adequately," she said. "It is supposed to build confidence into the sentencing system and reduce levels of custody but our concern is resourcing it."

Register Now to Continue Reading

Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's Included

  • Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month

  • Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector

Register

Already have an account? Sign in here


More like this