Sharp rise in deaths of young offenders in the community
Neil Puffett
Monday, June 13, 2011
Almost the same number of young people under youth offending team (YOT) supervision died in the community in the first four months of 2011 as for the whole of 2010, CYP Now has learned.
Statistics released by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) show that therewere 13 deaths between 1 January and 30 April 2011 compared with 14 forthe whole of 2010.
Twelve of the deaths so far this year were attributed incidents such asdrug overdoses and road accidents. One young person was the victim of amurder.
Impact of cuts
Gareth Jones, vice-chair of the Association of Youth Offending TeamManagers, said it is difficult to spot trends in the statistics withoutdelving deeper but added that cuts have definitely impacted onsafeguarding.
A survey of YOT managers earlier this month by CYP Now found that 90 percent had faced cuts.
"YOTs are being butchered left, right and centre across the country,"said Jones. "Some YOTs have proposed not to have a social worker and myYOT is one of them."
He added that other teams are "making do without health representatives'substance misuse representatives or mental health services. Some teamsare now considered no more than a team within social services, which istaking us back to the bad old days.
"These sorts of cuts will affect YOTs' ability to safeguard children,"he said.
But the YJB's director of performance Lucy Dawes said: "Work by the YJBto encourage YOTs to improve the recording of serious incidents has seenan increase in the numbers reported to us. Moving forward, the YJB willcontinue to support YOTs to help them improve the safety and welfare ofchildren and young people in the community."
Further incidents
In addition to the 13 deaths in the first four months of the year, thestatistics also revealed there were 30 attempted suicides (compared to113 for the whole of 2010), eight victims of rape (three in 2010) andtwo victims of attempted murder (six in 2010).
The figures are separate to those collected for incidents in youthcustody.
YOUNG OFFENDERS UNDER SUPERVISION IN THE COMMUNITY
14 deaths in the whole of 2010
13 deaths in the first four months of 2011
Source: Youth Justice Board
