Costs threaten introduction of comprehensive assessment tool for young offenders
Neil Puffett
Friday, November 25, 2011
Plans to introduce a new assessment tool for young offenders that could begin to address an over-representation of black and ethnic minority children in the justice system could be compromised by cost, CYP Now understands.
A business case for a replacement for the current Asset system is currently with ministers following extensive consultation by the Youth Justice Board.
In addition to creating a better alignment with other local agency assessments, it is understood the system would involve more detail on culture and race as well as accounting for issues around mental health and learning and communication difficulties.
However, concerns have emerged that the cost of introducing it could mean it fails to get the green light from ministers.
One of the issues with adopting the new system is the likelihood that current software used by youth offending teams (YOTs) would need to be updated.
CACI, which provides software for around two-thirds of YOTs, has been working to upgrade software they use so they could use a new assessment tool within existing case management systems.
The firm has also developed a central database that can store information from the common assessment framework (CAF), mental health assessments and youth justice assessments, allowing those with access to spot issues or trends.
A cost would be involved with each of these upgrades and if a new system is adopted it would have to be funded by either central government or local authorities.
"I don’t think we can assume the framework will necessarily be implemented," Tim Bateman, criminologist at the University of Bedfordshire, said. "It will involve quite substantial investment and money that hasn’t been predicated up until now."
A criticism of the current Asset system is that it does not take race and mental health into account and can lead to different assessment outcomes for black and ethnic minority children because they are more likely to come from deprived areas, an indicator that can lead to higher levels of intervention.
Just last month a report by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons found that the proportion of black and ethnic minority children, already hugely over-represented in the system, rose to 39 per cent in 2010/11 from 33 per cent in 2009/10.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: "Ministers will soon be considering the results of the Asset youth risk assessment tool review and a decision will be made in due course."
