Spotlight on young offender transitions to adult secure estate

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) will oversee the pilots at Glen Parva, Doncaster, Hull and New Hall as part of the youth to adult transition project, which aims to improve the safety and outcomes of young people in custody once they turn 18.

The pilots allow the custodial establishments to request information from youth offending teams (YOTs) relating to offenders.

Concerns were previously raised by the Transition to Adulthood Alliance over the dramatic drop in support available to young offenders as they move from the youth to the adult criminal justice system.

Improving the sharing of information can allow for better risk and vulnerability assessments for young people – an issue that came under the spotlight last year in the wake of 11 self-inflicted deaths of young people aged 21 and under in the secure estate, the highest number since 2005.

"We believe that by improving transitions young people will be helped at a difficult stage in their lives," Frances Done, YJB chair said. "They will get the necessary support and any risks to the public will be minimised."

The pilot will run for three months and a full evaluation will take place to assess the possibility of a national expansion of the initiative.

Improving transitions for young people from youth justice to adult justice services, forms one of the YJB’s corporate priorities for 2012 to 2015.

The project has already resulted in the approval of a web-based application for the secure transfer of a young person’s information from a youth offending team to a probation trust.  

Justice minister Lord McNally announced in July that the National Offender Management Service is developing a specific commissioning strategy for interventions in custody for young offenders aged between 18 and 24.