This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Youth Justice Improvement Team
01/12/2006
A frontline team of youth justice professionals has begun work with the aim of improving performance levels among agencies responsible for tackling persistent youth offending.
The Youth Justice Improvement Team, bringing together experienced police and other professionals, has been drawing up its plans since being formed over the summer.
Quarterly figures from the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration today show that 122 (15 per cent) more youths qualified as persistent young offenders during July-September than over the same three months last year.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said:
"All the indicators show that across Scotland crime is falling - from housebreaking to robbery, right through to homicides.
"But within that improving picture there remain real challenges - like the hard core minority of youths who continue to re-offend and disrupt too many of our communities.
"Three years ago we identified weaknesses in agencies' ability to tackle these problems. We acted - we now deliver record funding of £63 million to support local youth justice services, and we have given police and local authorities new powers - backed by further resources - to tackle antisocial behaviour.
"These are increasingly being used to bring relief to hard-pressed communities. Ask the people of Mid Calder or Dennistoun where dispersal orders have helped bring order to areas where gangs of youths were causing chaos.
"Looking back from September this year to September last, I'm bitterly disappointed that the number of persistent young offenders rose again in half of Scotland's local authority areas.
"Rightly this is a concern to local people living in those council areas who understandably look to both local and central government actions to make a positive difference.
"And it can be done. Over the same period, persistent youth offender numbers have been cut in 10 local authority areas, showing how progress can be made with effective and co-ordinated action from the responsible agencies.
"As these latest figures were being gathered, I launched the national Youth Justice Improvement Programme, outlining the action that must be taken both at a local and national level to deliver results that communities deserve and demand.
"The improvement team will visit each local authority over the next month to ensure agencies are collectively addressing and improving all indicators on youth crime - focusing first on helping areas with most still to do.
"That fieldwork started last week and, as the team gets round the country, local youth justice teams should be developing detailed plans for improvement.
"I have asked the team to ensure that, by the end of January, each local authority is developing robust plans that make full use of all the resources provided and are focused on delivering the results that we need to see.
"I am not prepared to write off any young person in Scotland. But neither am I prepared to allow a young person's unchecked behaviour to write off a community and threaten the increasingly safer communities we are building."
The quarterly figures from the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration show that 5,828 children were referred to the Reporter on offence grounds over the three months July and September - 25 fewer than the same quarter last year.
However, the number who qualified as persistent young offenders over the same period was 950, compared to 828 a year before.
In 2002 the Executive set agencies working in youth justice a number of national standards to be met by 2006. A target was also established to reduce the number of persistent young offenders by 10 per cent by March 2006, and a further 10 per cent by 2008, from a baseline figure of 1,201 established in 2003-04.
A persistent young offender is defined as a child or young person with five offending episodes within a six-month period, where an offending episode is equal to referral to the Children's Reporter under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, section 52(2)(i).
On October 9 the Justice Minister launched the Youth Justice Improvement Programme to help deliver more consistent, co-ordinated and effective youth justice services across the country. The Programme outlines detailed actions to be taken at a local and national level, with timescales, to deliver: improved practice; improved evaluation and performance; more effective management; greater information to victims, communities and offenders; and appropriate capacity and skills.
The Youth Justice Improvement Team members are:
- Kay Geddes, Youth Justice Strategy Co-ordinator, Aberdeen City
- Sue Holden, Senior Social Worker, Moray Council
- George Nedley, Chief Inspector, Strathclyde Police
- Mike Rodger, Youth Justice Co-ordinator, East Lothian Council
- Lyn Ross, Inspector, Grampian Police