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3. Preventing Offending by Young People

3.1 The debate around young people who offend is often unhelpfully polarised: needs and deeds; victim and offender; individual and community; prevention and intervention. In reality, the evidence shows the only way to prevent "deeds" is to address needs. Individuals are often both victims and offenders: each aspect needs our attention. Offenders come from communities and usually return to them, and tackling offending needs to happen in that social context. Prevention is the most cost-effective cure, but prevention demands that we intervene to stop the cycle of offending.

3.2 In Scotland we are fortunate to have a system for tackling offending by young people - at the heart of which is the Children's Hearing System - that is based on a rejection of these polarisations. Through the voluntary interventions with children and families under the Getting it right for every child framework, and the work of the Children's Panel where compulsory measures are required, the offending behaviour of young people is considered as part of a broader picture of who they are. Interventions are designed to be early, holistic and with a presumption that children stay in their communities.

3.3 With this approach at the heart of what we do, we are committed through this framework to strengthen all aspects of our work, from prevention through to managing high risk. In developing this work, we recognise we have particular challenges including prevention for those at risk, embedding evidence-based interventions, delivering value for money, planning and performance management, meeting the needs of victims and community confidence. We need to ensure that in everything we do, we are protecting and promoting the rights of children, in line with our commitment to the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ¹.

Prevention

3.4 The earliest years of life are crucial to a child's development. However, it is increasingly evident that it is in the first years of life that inequalities in health, housing, education, and employment opportunities are passed from one generation to another. To give every child in Scotland the best possible start in life we need to break this cycle through prevention and early intervention. Key to this is work with families, including kinship, foster and adoptive families, as they have the biggest impact, positive or negative, on children's early experience and resilience going forward. Collectively, we are committed to taking action to identify those children and young people and families at risk of not achieving positive outcomes, or having access to positive opportunities, and taking action to prevent these risks materialising.

3.5 The principles we have established as governing our approach to early intervention across a broad range of social policy areas are set out in the joint statement on Early Years and Early Intervention published by Scottish Government and COSLA on 18th March ². The four principles are:

• Our ambitions are universal - we want to reduce inequalities in a variety of policy areas, to have the same outcomes for all and for all to have the same opportunities.
• We take action to identify those at risk of not achieving these outcomes or having these opportunities and take action to prevent that risk materialising.
• We make sustained and effective interventions in cases where these risks have materialised.
• We shift the focus from service provision as the vehicle for delivery of outcomes to building the capacity of individuals, families and communities to secure outcomes, and addressing the external barriers which they may face in seeking to maximise their life chances, making use of high quality, accessible public services as required.

3.6 It is important to make clear that prevention and early intervention do not mean early interference by the state at national or local level. A key part of any early intervention policy is building the capacity of individuals, families and communities to secure the best outcomes for themselves. It is about moving from intervening when a crisis happens towards prevention, building resilience and providing the right level of support before problems materialise. Universal services, who cater for all children, must have the capacity and skills to engage all children and young people throughout childhood and as young adults - even those who may be challenging and reject first offers of help.

3.7 The Early Years Framework being developed jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA, will aim to identify the practical steps needed to give children the best start in life and equip them with the resilience and skills to navigate a range of challenges that will face them in adolescence and beyond. The four themes around which the work in the Early Years Framework is built are:

• Building parenting and family capacity pre and post birth.
• Creating communities that provide a supportive environment for children and families.
• Delivering integrated services that meet the holistic needs of children and families.
• Developing a suitable workforce to support the framework.

3.8 Key to supporting prevention is agencies working together to provide support to those families who need extra help, in the form of parenting support and more intensive responses to families in difficulty to address the root causes of offending and other negative behaviour at an early stage. This should focus on helping families to access support, engage positively with relevant agencies, change their own behaviour, improve their parenting skills and in this way be empowered to take responsibility for their children.

3.9 The Health Service, as the only universal service at the critical early stages of life (antenatal and early years), has a key role to play in supporting the best possible start in life, and identifying and addressing risks early. This is recognised in the report of the Health Inequalities Task Force ³, and the Chief Medical Officer's Annual Report 2006 ⁴. Health professionals contribute throughout a child's life to tackling the mental and physical health problems which are both a cause and effect of disadvantage and negative outcomes. A key challenge is ensuring services are accessible for all children and their families, and take a holistic approach to providing support.

3.10 Schools are in key position to develop confidence, emotional literacy, emotional resilience and positive behaviour in children and young people, and to develop positive relationships across whole school communities. The support provided by schools to make sure all pupils are engaged with and benefiting from the curriculum makes a fundamental contribution to developing positive outcomes for all children and young people. Health promotion is also at the centre of school education, with a whole-school approach to promoting the physical, social, mental and emotional well-being of all pupils. Schools also support early intervention and a personalised, approach to additional support needs, in order to address inequality and promote positive outcomes for children and young people.

3.11 Curriculum for Excellence ⁵ aims to provide exciting, engaging, relevant learning and support for learning in every pre-school centre, school and college or wherever the child or young person is learning. Schools will have the central responsibility but will need to build strong partnerships with a range of organisations including colleges, universities, employers Skills Development Scotland, community learning and development and the voluntary sector to deliver a personalised learning experience for every child and young person.

3.12 Young people and their communities tell us that positive opportunities - "more things to do" - are the key to preventing offending and other negative outcomes. Ensuring that all young people have access to positive alternatives is a priority. Through the Cashback programme, more investment is going in to make sporting and cultural activities available to all. Government is also working with Lloyds TSB Foundation on Inspiring Scotland, an initiative to focus private sector and philanthropic giving on strengthening provision for young people. Local authorities also have an important role to play, working in partnership with local community and third sector bodies, in providing positive cultural opportunities for young people. By linking to Curriculum for Excellence, we will ensure these become a platform for young people to develop the skills for successful and fulfilled adulthood.

3.13 The public should feel that they have a stake in the future of the children and young people who are part of their communities. They should take pride in their role as key influencers and role models and be confident that they are contributing to positive life chances for those who most need them. The public should also be assured that agencies are doing their best to make positive changes in young people's lives and to reduce offending and antisocial behaviour in their area.

3.14 What we will do:

• Work together to develop and deliver the Early Years Framework, ensuring the needs of the most vulnerable are addressed.
• Building on the work of the Health Inequalities Task Force, seek to ensure that all children and young people get the help they need to be mentally and physically healthy.
• Expand positive opportunities for young people, for example through Curriculum for Excellence, Cashback for Communities and the Government's forthcoming Youth Framework.
• Promote positive messages about young people and support engagement with communities, including opportunities for intergenerational communication.

Early and effective intervention

3.15 Effective responses to offending involve recognition of needs and strengths, as well as attention to risks. In this respect, this agenda is closely connected to Getting it right for every child , the programme which should guide and underpin the principles of work by all relevant agencies. The Getting it right for every child ⁶programme is founded on acting on the principles of early intervention, through appropriate, proportionate and timely intervention and provides a framework for putting them into action for all children and young people at the individual level.

3.16 Where the need for intervention has been identified, relevant agencies must act promptly, and in line with what other agencies are doing, to provide responses that are timely, proportionate, effective and that inspire community confidence. It is crucial that all agencies are able to provide early and effective responses based on an appropriate assessment of the individual's circumstances, not least so that children and young people can relate their actions to the impact and consequences and learn from this experience. All agencies, including the third sector, should plan and work together in partnership with children, their families and others, to do everything possible to provide early and effective responses to problematic behaviour that best fits the circumstances of each individual case.

3.17 An early and effective response will support the child or young person to engage with services, including universal services such as education, youth work and healthcare, to address identified needs. In this context responses will:

• Relate directly to the needs and behaviour of the young person.
• Take account of impact on others, and make reparation and restoration where appropriate.
• Support parental and child responsibility.
• Be appropriate, proportionate, timely and fair.

3.18 A small number of children and young people will continue to offend. In these circumstances it is essential that everything possible is done to address the issues in the young person's life that are causing that continued offending behaviour as well as stopping that behaviour. Agencies should be identifying the young people causing the most trouble and those at risk of becoming repeat offenders. At this stage agencies must plan and work together to decide what action they need to take to challenge and change that behaviour and provide the support that will enable these young people to turn their lives around.

3.19 What we will do:

• Embed the principles and practice of Getting It Right For Every Child across our agencies.
• Ensure that all our systems are more effective in sharing information to support identification and intervention for young people at risk.
• Develop an evidence base around what works in early and effective intervention.
• Identify and disseminate good practice, including supporting local learning partners to develop knowledge and understanding around applying the principles and practice of Getting It Right For Every Child to young people who offend .

Managing high risk

3.20 There are a small but significant number of children and young people who present a high risk to themselves and others, and who have complex needs, including mental health and learning disabilities. This includes children and young people involved in sexually harmful behaviour, sexual offences and violence. These children and young people should have their needs met and the risks they pose managed in order to give them the opportunity to change their behaviour and become positive contributors to society. Care for this group should be high quality, and approaches and programmes should be effective. Those who work with them need to have a high level of expertise.

3.21 Agencies should focus on the identification, assessment, planning and management of this group of children and young people. Those working with this group of children and young people must take into account both the needs and risks of a high risk child or young person. Identification, assessment, planning and management should be tailored to the needs, age and stage of development of the individual child or young person.

3.22 We expect local agencies, working in partnership, to support and manage the needs and risks of this group of young people and to protect others in their community. The Children's Hearings System has an important role in relation to managing this balance, and there are a range of measures available including intensive support, with or without tagging and secure care. In the most serious cases, the Children's Hearings System will work with COPFS and the courts to ensure an appropriate response to the most challenging young people. A working group comprised of ACPOS, ADSW, COPFS, SCRA, and the Scottish Government is strengthening the management of cases which transition between systems to ensure a seamless and effective approach. In all cases we will seek to keep children out of prison, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

3.23 What we will do:

• Support the development of effective interventions for high risk young people.
• Improve the range, quality and effectiveness of provision of residential services for young people who need them, through a strengthened approach to commissioning.
• Work to ensure that children do not go to prison, including by abolishing the unruly certificate by which under-16s can be remanded to prison, and that appropriate secure accommodation is available where required.
• Develop evidence-based interventions for young people whose offending is linked to substance misuse, building on actions in the Scottish Government's drugs and alcohol strategies.
• Identify and disseminate good practice on multi-agency responses to managing high risk.
• Strengthen transitions into adulthood, including where that requires continued intervention to meet needs and manage risks.

Victims and community confidence

3.24 We have a clear commitment to work towards a safer and stronger Scotland and to achieve this we must strive to remove inequality and injustice from across all our communities. It is a basic human right of everyone to feel safe in their homes and wider communities no matter where they live. We need to ensure we create a feeling of safety and well-being by tackling crime and the associated fear that this has on our communities.

3.25 Communities themselves have an important role to play in achieving this. Working with local partners, supporting community events and acknowledging the many positive contributions that children and young people make can all help communities come together to provide a safer environment to live in.

3.26 The victims of crime by young people are most likely to be other young people. In addition, there is strong evidence that many young people who commit crimes have, before they became offenders, been victims themselves. This of course includes all the children who come to the attention of services, and some to children's hearings, on welfare grounds as victims of neglect and abuse, many as a result of domestic violence or parental substance misuse. Strengthening the response to young victims is therefore imperative, in its own right and to prevent offending and other negative outcomes. This means taking appropriate, proportionate and timely action to identify and support young victims. There is a close link here to the work of schools to combat bullying and problem behaviour.

3.27 All victims of crime by young people deserve to be informed and supported. The work of the Children's Hearings in engaging victims is an important part of a general strengthening of the response to victims of crime.

3.28 Where young people are involved in crime or antisocial behaviour it is important that they are aware of the impact they have on others and make reparation and restoration where appropriate. Restorative justice can play an important role in addressing the harm caused by the behaviour of children and young people, whether on its own or as part of a range of services.

3.29 Research suggests that perceptions of the prevalence of youth crime and disorder tend to far outstrip direct impact. To address this, communities need to receive regular and appropriate feedback from local agencies as part of general information on how they are tackling local issues, including antisocial behaviour and crime. The public should also be reassured that agencies are doing their best to manage and mitigate risks posed by the small number of children and young people who pose a risk of harming others. This involvement and ongoing communication will help communities understand what action agencies are taking and the reasons why.

3.30 At a national and local level we need to challenge and change the misrepresentation of young people and offending, especially through the media.

3.31 What we will do:

• Develop practice on promoting positive relationships and behaviour in schools, including dealing with serious indiscipline.
• Develop an evidence base around effective interventions with young victims and strengthen support to all victims of youth crime.
• Continue to work as partners to demonstrate the potential benefits that can be achieved in certain circumstances by adopting a restorative approach to youth offending.
• Address issues around media perceptions of young people through the Government's Youth Framework.

Planning and Performance Improvement

3.32 Section 2 sets out how work to address offending by young people will now be planned in the context of the development of Single Outcome Agreements. While it is important that work on this agenda links ultimately to the Purpose of government and the five strategic objectives, all partners will continue to need access to high-quality management information which tells them about the efficiency and effectiveness (including cost-effectiveness) of relevant activities. Audit Scotland's report - Dealing with offending by young people - identified a paucity in the availability and use of such management information which presents a serious barrier to the effective planning and accountability of services and hampers sharing of good practice.

3.33 Since the publication of Audit Scotland's report, the change in the relationship between Scottish Government and local government has signalled a major shift in the role of performance information. No longer will Scottish Government set detailed targets linked to demands for performance reports. Local authorities and their partners will determine through the Single Outcome Agreements, subject to the commitments in the Concordat, what information will be reported to communities about achievement against outcomes. It is important to stress that local authorities will not be held to account for performance unless it is part of the SOAs, or a statutory requirement (which includes the requirement to demonstrate best value). This is an important condition of the empowering relationship reflected in the Concordat.

3.34 However, there is still a role for national bodies in supporting local areas both to report against their SOAs and to meet any other information needs they identify to manage services locally. We believe there are specific ways which we collectively can support effective local information management, and begin to address the shortfalls identified in Audit Scotland's report, as follows:

• Developing a voluntary framework for management information to support work to tackle offending by young people, populated by national and local information. This will set out the kind of information that local areas might want to consider in planning, commissioning and managing services.
• Improving the quality and availability of national management information relevant to this agenda. This includes developing police data on offending by young people, and strengthening SCRA data.
• Supporting the dissemination and analysis of comparative performance information. This is not about league tables, but helping local areas to identifying their strengths and areas for improvement and access good practice.
• Supporting the development and dissemination of the evidence base for work to tackle offending by young people through the effective use of national analytical resource, in consultation with stakeholders.
• Ensuring that the inspection regime for relevant services reflects the objectives set out in this framework, while minimising the bureaucratic burden on agencies, linking to the follow-up to the Crerar review as appropriate.

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