A prevention programme pioneered by the YJB to stop young people from becoming involved in crime is being trialled in Canada.
Youth Inclusion Programmes (YIPs), which were developed by the YJB ten years ago, target children and young people who are deemed at risk of committing crime.
The tailor-made programmes work with 10 to 17-year-olds, offering them the help and support they need to overcome the issues which may lead to offending behaviour.
YIPs have contributed to a significant drop in first time entrants to the UK youth justice system, with 21.6 per cent fewer 10 to 17-year-olds receiving their first reprimand, warning or conviction in England in 2008/09, compared to 2007/8. The programmes are also credited with helping to reduce reoffending rates among children and young people by 7.5 per cent from 2005 to 2007.
YJB prevention programmes engage approximately 2,000 young people in England and Wales each year, and YIPs have proved so successful that the YJB’s framework may now be adopted across the Atlantic.
The YJB's head of youth justice strategy, Bob Ashford, acting head of prevention and pre-court strategy Matthew Anderson and Asset consultant Kerry Baker have been working closely with colleagues from Canada’s National Crime Prevention Centre (NCPC) [opens in new window].
The NCPC funds time-limited demonstration projects to establish what works to prevent offending, especially among at-risk young people, and Youth Inclusion Programmes are among interventions currently being tested.
So far there are seven programmes under implementation in communities across Canada, including Nova Scotia and British Colombia, with a further three more planned.
YIPs that have already been approved for funding represent investments of $11,760,578 (£6,924,251) over the next five years. Each of the Canadian programmes is delivered through local partnerships with police, education and social services and other key institutions.
The NCPC has also adapted the Onset tool, designed jointly by the YJB and Oxford University, for use by the programmes.
Onset is used to help identify risk factors to be reduced and protective factors to be enhanced in the case of each young person. It is also used to provide information which might be helpful in selecting appropriate early interventions for those young people identified as needing them.
YJB chair Frances Done said:
“We are delighted that the YIP model is being trialled in communities across Canada. This a further endorsement of a programme that evaluations have already shown to be both successful and cost effective.
"The YJB has been at the forefront of youth crime prevention for more than a decade and we are pleased to share our knowledge with our Canadian colleagues.”
Notes to editors
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The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales. We work to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour.
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Specifically, we advise the Secretaries of State for Justice and for Children, Schools and Families on the operation of, and standards for, the youth justice system; monitor the performance of the youth justice system; purchase places for, and place, children and young people remanded or sentenced to custody; identify and promote effective practice; make grants to local authorities or other bodies to support the development of effective practice; commission research and publish information.
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There are 110 YIPs across England and Wales, operating in some of the most deprived/high crime estates. Each YIP receives an annual grant from the YJB through its YOT and is required to find match funding from local agencies.
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