As deputy head of Leeds Youth Offending Service (YOS), Maggie Smith is frank about the issues her team once faced when it came to custody rates.
In 2008/09, the rate stood at 11.3 per cent, meaning that more than one in 10 young people who went before the courts were sent to custody, placing Leeds near the top of the table for worst-performing areas.
"There have always been concerns from the Youth Justice Board (YJB) about high levels of custody in Leeds and the fact it didn't compare favourably with other cities of our size," says Smith. "We are a big city and do get serious offences; that was our argument for the reason our rates were higher. But there are other big cities with similar crime profiles to us that had lower rates, so the argument didn't really stack up.
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
Already have an account? Sign in here
