In response to the Portsmouth University study, Public protection in youth justice? The Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme from the inside published today, which claims that public safety is being threatened by the failure of the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP), Joyce Moseley, Chief Executive of young person’s charity Catch22, says:
“ISSPs give us a framework within which to help prolific young offenders tackle the causes of their offending behaviour, give them access to education and structured activities, and reduce the chances of them reoffending. As in all our programmes, we treat these young people as whole individuals, looking at the various aspects of their lives that need to be addressed to stop them offending and working with them to make sure the environment and intervention is tailored to their particular situation and needs.
“We need to be careful when reacting to statistics about this particular group of offenders – these are young people who often have a history of offending and who have been identified as likely to reoffend. ISSP supervision needs to be given in a way which is most likely to help young offenders out of a cycle of criminal behaviour. This means a variety of agencies working together to cover the different aspects of the programme, from education and structured activities to providing boundaries and a sense of purpose and self-esteem. All of these need to be in place for the approach to be effective.
“Above all, these findings are not a reason to revert to jail as an option for young offenders. Years of evidence have shown that prison doesn’t work for young people and must only ever be used as a last resort.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
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Catch22works with 37,000 young people in more than 150 places in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It helps young people find ways out of tough situations by building strong relationships with them and tackling the problems they face through specialist projects.
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Catch22 is the new charity formed by the merger of young people’s charity Rainer and crime prevention charity Crime Concern in July 2008. It has 200 years of experience working with young people.
