The research for the Youth Justice Board found that reoffending risk factors around family and personal relationships, education, and training and employment, reduced more for young offenders serving longer sentences than those serving six months or less.
Prison staff also cast doubt on the effectiveness of shorter sentences, with one in three stating that they offered “insufficient time for staff to build strong relationships” or provide “appropriate and effective” interventions.
The report said that these findings, coupled with previous research on short sentences and evidence that intensive community punishment results in lower reoffending rates, meant that alternatives should be considered.
“Options could include increasing the minimum length of a detention and training order to 12 months, alongside a higher custody threshold and replacing sentences of six months or less with community-based alternatives,” the report states.
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