Briefing: Crib sheet - Young offenders' education

Are young offenders provided with some sort of education or training?That's certainly the intention of the youth justice system. However,this is undermined by serious structural problems, some of which areinherent to the criminal justice system, and some of which are down tothe tensions that exist between youth justice services and mainstreamchildren's services like education. Currently, the Youth Justice Board(YJB) has a target of 90 per cent of young people supervised by youthoffending teams participating in suitable, full-time education, trainingor employment. In 2005/06, only three per cent of youth offending teamsmet the target.

Why is it so difficult to deliver? Young people who get involved incrime have generally had a very negative experience of learning. The YJBand others report that many of these young people feel less academicallyable than their peers, some are trying to cope with being bullied orissues around loss and bereavement, and a significant proportion havespeech, language and communication difficulties. In addition, as many as15 per cent have statements of special educational needs. Some of theseyoung people admit they chose to be absent from school, but many feltjustified in doing so.