Policing young adult offenders: PCCs develop innovative practice

Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) have had a chequered history since coming into being in late 2012. Billed as introducing democracy to local policing, they have been branded by some commentators as expensive and ineffective. Labour has pledged to do away with them altogether if it wins the next general election.

Despite the concerns, Revolving Doors Agency and the Transition to Adulthood Alliance (T2A) have, through their First Generation project, pulled together examples of where PCCs across England and Wales are delivering promising practice in working with young people and young adults.

Some PCCs have shown real innovation in their efforts to cut crime, end "revolving door" offending, and improve responses to young adults and people with multiple needs who frequently come into contact with the police.

LEICESTERSHIRE

Leicestershire PCC Sir Clive Loader identified young adults as a priority group in his police and crime plan. Following this, he funded the multi-agency Young Adults Project (YAP!).

Reporting to the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Reducing Reoffending Board, the project began with an initial analysis phase looking at the issues facing young adults in contact with the police and criminal justice agencies.

Research found that in 2011-13, 40 per cent of offenders and 21 per cent of victims in Leicestershire and Rutland were aged between 16 and 24.

The PCC concluded that a distinct approach to young adults was needed and made 18 recommendations that are now being implemented. These include: reviewing the use of out-of-court disposals to improve diversion of young adults involved in less serious offending; ensuring local mental health liaison and diversion schemes consider the specific needs of young adults and develop the approach accordingly; developing bespoke sentencing options for young adults; and ensuring commissioning of restorative justice and victims' services promote development of these approaches for young adults at all stages of the criminal justice process.

YAP! has now entered the implementation phase and progress has been made in several areas, including:

• The development of a new transitions protocol between youth offending services and adult probation providers.
• The commissioning of a resources website for young people, young adults and practitioners.
• The establishment of a young adults team tasked with providing voluntary support and interventions to 18- to 24-year-olds at risk of offending/reoffending. The purpose of the team is to prevent offending or, if reoffending occurs, to support a smooth transition into the adult criminal justice system.

With an initial drive from the PCC, the local strategic partnership board has now identified young adults as a priority group and is overseeing the project, helping to bring agencies together to support a system-wide approach to these problems.

The focus on young adults also continues throughout the PCC's commissioning strategy, with many services receiving funding expected to tailor their approach to the specific needs of this group. This includes a new mentoring service for short-sentence prisoners.

SOUTH WALES

South Wales PCC Alun Michael has targeted an improved response to young adults, with a particular focus on extending youth offending team principles to young adults.

This has involved working closely in partnership with local authorities, youth offending services (YOS), probation and the voluntary sector to develop an approach that delivers across a range of maturity levels in this age group. Features of an initial pilot in Bridgend included:

• "Relapse prevention" and out-of-court disposals - A triage scheme has been developed whereby young adults (aged 18 to 21) who have previously been involved with YOS are identified if they come into police custody and linked back into the YOS team for further targeted support. There is also work under way to expand out-of-court disposals to the 18 to 25 age groups, and to gather more information on the support needs of young adults coming into custody to identify gaps in provision.
• Employment, apprenticeships and training - The PCC is supporting a scheme to take the financial risk of employing a young adult with a criminal record away from small local businesses. The project identifies a local business with a genuine vacancy, explains the project to the employer and young person, and then the PCC covers insurance costs, training costs, costs of equipment, as well as 50 per cent of the wages for the first three months. If they successfully complete the trial period, the young person will become employed like any other member of staff.

The approach taken in the pilot acknowledges that ceasing criminal behaviour is a process that can take time, and so a longer timeframe is required for services to deliver positive outcomes.

The PCC is working to expand this approach across South Wales, and the process will be informed by a forthcoming academic evaluation of the Bridgend pilot. Building on the pilot, Bridgend has employed a crime reduction officer seconded to the YOS who is focused specifically on addressing the complex needs of offenders aged 18 to 25.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Gloucestershire PCC Martin Surl has identified "young people becoming adults" as a key priority and is supporting a number of services covering the transition from adolescence to young adulthood through his commissioning fund. This includes:

• Outreach support for young women. This includes working with the Isis women's centre in Gloucester, which provides holistic support to vulnerable women who face complex needs, including those at risk of offending or reoffending. Through the commissioning fund, the PCC is funding a dedicated female outreach worker to work with girls and young women aged 16 to 24 in rural areas of Gloucestershire who are involved in offending, antisocial behaviour and substance misuse, or at risk of being so.
• Community services for young people and young adults, including funding extra capacity at services such as the Door Project, which works with disadvantaged young people and young adults up to the age of 24 and provides diversionary activity for those at risk of offending.
• The PCC has also placed a focus on the night-time economy, which raises particular challenges in the policing of young adults. A partnership with the University of Gloucestershire will produce research in this area.

The PCC's work on this agenda is informed by ongoing reviews of how young people are policed, including a focus on out-of-court disposals and the effectiveness of restorative justice practice.

OTHER AREAS

• Cleveland PCC has formed a strategic partnership group to inform strategy and commissioning, with probation, youth offending, health and voluntary sector organisations focusing on young people up to the age of 24.
• South Yorkshire PCC is match-funding two of the T2A Pathway projects with the Barrow Cadbury Trust, with one focusing on diverting young adults with mental health problems into support and another on improved restorative justice and community sentences.
• Avon & Somerset PCC has recruited a "youth champion" to improve engagement and inform policy and commissioning for young people aged up to 24.
• Nottinghamshire PCC has placed a strong focus on issues relating to black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, including improved monitoring and oversight of stop and search, which has helped reduce the disproportionate use of stop-and-search powers on young men from BME groups.
• Sussex, Hampshire, and Leicestershire PCCs have all hosted a youth commission, run by social change organisation the SHM Foundation. This involves a group of young people aged 14 to 24 engaging with their peers to produce recommendations that will inform the police and crime plan, covering issues such as antisocial behaviour, reoffending and police relationships.

EXPERT VIEW: The future of PCCs is uncertain, but we must learn from their promising work - Shane Britton, policy manager, Revolving Doors Agency:

More than two years into their role, the first generation of police and crime commissioners (PCCs) remain a controversial addition to the public service landscape. Whether it is the slightly clunky name, a lack of understanding about their role or the November polling date, the election in 2012 generated little engagement among the public, and the media have given PCCs short shrift ever since.

Such is the hostility that there may not be a second generation of PCCs at all. With Labour pledged to scrap them if they are in power after the election, and the Liberal Democrats also favouring an alternative model, the PCC experiment could be coming to an abrupt end.

However, whatever the long-term future of PCCs, the First Generation project, Revolving Doors Agency and the Transition to Adulthood Alliance (T2A) have identified numerous examples of promising practice, starting with interventions for those aged 16 to 24. This age group is responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime, making up just 10 per cent of the population, but around a third of those sentenced to prison and a third of the probation caseload.

The offending of many of these young people is linked to multiple and complex needs and problems such as poor mental health, substance misuse, insecure housing and unstable or nonexistent family ties.

However, at this crucial stage in their lives (19 is the peak age of offending), the whole system changes around them. Too often, they fall through gaps between youth and adult support services, while sky-high reoffending rates show the ineffectiveness of current criminal justice interventions; three-quarters of young adults sent to prison are reconvicted within two years.

Recognising the demand this places on their police force, their communities and the wider criminal justice system, a number of PCCs have decided to act. In many ways, these commissioners are well placed to drive change in their area. Through their strategic role, they can show important leadership on key issues that are impacting on their force, but fall between the gaps of other services and systems.

That clumsy job title is also important here - their broader "and crime" responsibility means they cut across youth and adult systems, with a remit to bring partners together to solve these difficult issues.

Of course, it is still early days for many of these initiatives. Nevertheless, it is clear that there is much to be learned from the experience of this first generation of commissioners, whether it informs the work of future PCCs or the development of new structures after the general election.