A report has been launched telling the story of the Addaction Drug and Alcohol Transitions Project for Young Adults, a highly successful pilot programme working with 17-24 year olds in Derby to end, or substantially reduce, their substance misuse.

Focussing on community outreach work and treatment work for individuals (two tiers of the National Treatment Agency’s model of service provision) the programme offered treatment in line with NICE clinical guidelines and targeted at young people not generally accessing adult treatment services, including those who were reluctant to regard themselves as needing treatment.

Staff adopted a down-to-earth, flexible and person-centred holistic approach, which included looking at self-esteem, relationship and general health issues. A specialist post within the local Youth Offending Team helped the project reach young people in the criminal justice system.

The project was also notable for having proved highly cost effective, with the costs of individual treatment estimated at around £940 per person, compared to the £3,000 per head identified by the National Audit Office as the ‘cost of funding for every adult in effective treatment’.

Recognising the fact that the transition to adulthood is evolving and that young people now take longer to achieve independence, the project drew on neurological evidence showing that the developing brain does not reach full maturity until the mid-20s. In pursuing an innovative model designed specifically with young people in the transition to adulthood in mind, the project contributes to a substantial and emerging body of evidence on the efficacy of such tailored approaches.

The project was joint funded by the Derby Community Safety Partnership (DCSP) and the Barrow Cadbury Trust. When the funding ended its approach influenced the creation of a new drugs and alcohol service for young people in Derby City run by Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, particularly the decision to set its upper age limit at 21 rather than at 18.

You can read the report in full here.

In plans published today, new legislation for restorative justice with adult offenders and their victims will be introduced through an amendment to the Crime and Courts Bill.

The new clauses will allow the Courts to defer at the pre-sentence stage in order for the victim and offender to be offered restorative justice at the earliest opportunity. It is considered to be the biggest development for restorative justice in England and Wales since legislation introducing referral order panels to the youth justice system in 1999.

This change follows a two year campaign led by The Restorative Justice Council, and T2A Alliance members including the Prison Reform Trust and the Criminal Justice Alliance, who have campaigned for this legislation.

This new law will be consistent with the T2A Alliance’s 2012 report ‘Pathways from Crime’, published earlier this year, which stated that ‘Restorative Justice can be used post-charge but pre-sentence’ and recommended that: “Restorative justice should be considered for all young adult offenders at all stages of the criminal justice process, including pre-arrest, pre-sentence, and as part of a sentence”.

Announcing the new legislative provisions Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “For far too long, the Criminal Justice System has been centred on the offender – victims often feel they don’t have a voice. Restorative justice gives victims the chance to confront criminals face to face with the very real consequences of their crimes. This isn’t a soft option. This is about more rights for victims. And it has been proven to reduce reoffending too.”

The Restorative Justice Council are currently undertaking a specific project for T2A on ensuring that young adults have access to restorative justice interventions, for which a report will be published in early 2013.

RJC will work closely with the Ministry of Justice, the Magistrates Association and the Sentencing Council, to ensure the legislation is implemented and the judiciary receive the guidance they need. The RJC have stated that it ‘will continue working to ensure that, once offered restorative justice at the earliest opportunity through this legislation, victims are able to opt-in at a time that is right for them’.

 
At the end of September a celebratory event was held at the Midlands Arts Centre to mark the end of the Birmingham Transition to Adulthood Alliance (T2A) pilot project, which was managed by Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust.
 
Marking the great achievements of both the staff and young people they work, speakers at the event included Mike Maiden, Chief Executive of Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation, Dawn Roberts, Head of Birmingham Youth Offending Services and Debbie Pippard, Vice Chair of the T2A Alliance and Head of Programmes at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, who noted that: “We now have a good evidence base to show politicians that this approach does work”.
 
Project staff and programme participants also spoke movingly about their experiences. On team member, Emma Bignell, described her time on the T2A Pilot team as: “one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever had”. You can read a longer account of the event on the website of Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust.

Today sees the release of a major new Transition to Adulthood Alliance report on the impact that acquired brain injuries can have on young people in childhood and in their transition to adulthood, and outlines the criminal justice consequences if these injuries go untreated.
 
In Repairing Shattered Lives: Brain injury and its implications for criminal justice, Prof Huw Williams of the University of Exeter notes that a shocking 60% of young people in custody report having experienced some kind of brain injury. Acquired brain injuries can lead maturing brains to “misfire,” interrupting the development of temperance (ability to restrain and moderate actions), social judgement and the ability to control impulses. If undetected these injuries, which may be the result of falls, sporting injuries, car accidents or fights, can leave young people untreated and increase their risk of offending.
 
Report author Prof Huw Williams said:
 

“The young brain, being a work in progress, is prone to “risk taking” and so is more vulnerable to getting injured in the first place, and to suffer subtle to more severe problems in attention, concentration and managing one’s mood and behaviour.
 
“It is rare that brain injury is considered by criminal justice professionals when assessing the rehabilitative needs of an offender even tough recent studies from the UK have shown that prevalence of TBI among prisoners is as high as 60%. Brain injury has been shown to be a condition that may increase the risk of offending, and it is also a strong ‘marker’ for other key factors that indicate risk for offending.”

 
The report recommends early intervention to identify and manage brain injuries, including training for school staff, to ensure that young people receive the required neuro-rehabilitative support. Repairing Shattered Lives also calls for increased awareness of brain injuries throughout the criminal justice process, including screening of young people as standard.
 
Another report also published today, by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, identifies the wider impact that brain injuries can have on maturing brains, as well as their social consequences, and adds further weight to the findings by T2A.
 
Prof. Huw Williams will also be presenting at a Disabilities Trust brain injury and offending seminar as part of the launch of groundbreaking research on brain injury among adult male offenders on the 14th November 2012. You can see more information about the event here.
 
You can read an executive summary here or the report in full here.
 
The report has been covered by the Independent, Guardian, BBC and Children and Young People Now.

In a House of Lords debate on Young Offenders employment and training yesterday, tabled by Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill, a number of peers cited the Transition to Adulthood Alliance’s work on maturity and the importance of effective transitions for young adults in the criminal justice process.
 
Drawing on various T2A publications and on the experience of the Alliances’ pilot projects, Baroness Healey called for a greater use of restorative justice and referenced T2A’s recommendations that local authorities link up with crime reduction partnerships and the new Police and Crime Commissioners to ensure that young people have access to appropriate accommodation. She also stressed the importance of wrap-around services for young people leaving custody and for effective “through the gate” and resettlement support.
 
Liberal Democrat Peer Baroness Linklater, whose interest in prison reform is longstanding, noted that the T2A pilots, stating that “the success is because it tailors its interventions specifically to the needs of young adults,” and called such initiatives to be more widespread.
 
Baroness Nye, a Labour Peer, spoke about the T2A manifesto proposal that local FE colleges should be twinned with YOIs, while Lord Aberdare, a Crossbencher and NACRO board member, called for a “seamless process of support, starting while young people are still in custody and continuing all the way into sustained education or employment”.
 
Responding for the Government, Work and Pensions Minister Lord Freud said: “Young offenders face multiple barriers in accessing employment, training and jobs on release from prison. If we are to tackle these problems and take effective steps to reduce reoffending, there has to be a co-ordinated response across government departments”.

Debbie Pippard, Vice Chair of the Transition to Adulthood Alliance, has today given oral evidence to the House of Commons Justice Committee, which is conducting a short inquiry into Youth Justice.
 
Drawing on the Alliance’s body of research and the evidence of the T2A pilot projects, Debbie Pippard stressed the consideration that should be given to the maturity of young adults in the criminal justice process.
 
Other leading figures giving evidence to the Committee include Sue Berelowitz, Deputy Children’s Commissioner and Dr Becky Morland, Consultant Counselling Psychologist and Senior Manager of Health and Family Intervention Team, Peterborough Youth Offending Service.
 
Footage of the evidence session can be viewed online here.

On Friday 12th October the West Mercia Transition to Adulthood pilot project, delivered by youth charity YSS, hosted a visit by two local Members of Parliament, Daniel Kawczynski MP (Conservative, Shrewsbury) and Philip Dunne MP (Conservative, Ludlow).
 
Both MPs took the opportunity to hear at first-hand about the experiences of the young adults who have taken part in the pilot programme, as well as their views on issues such as the challenge of securing employment as an ex-offender.
 
Following the successful meeting, further events are planned to help connect employment opportunities in the region and young adults with an offending history, something both MPs have undertaken to support.

The Transition to Adulthood Alliance has today welcomed the publication of Transitions: an inspection of the transition arrangements from youth to adult services in the criminal justice system, a Criminal Justice Joint Inspection report into young adult transitions in both custody and in the community.

The multi-agency study, which draws on inspections made at six locations in England and Wales, makes reference to the Alliance’s work on maturity and highlights the T2A pilot projects in Birmingham, London and Worcestershire.

While welcoming examples of good practice, the report also details a number of key areas in which insufficient attention has been given to effective transitions:

• Not all young people in the community who were eligible for transfer to adult-based services were identified – so transfer, when initiated, was undertaken too late and with insufficient information;
• Young people were not always as informed or involved as they should have been, and some young people reported that in custody, they felt unprepared for the reality of a move to an adult establishment
• There was a lack of work with those in health and education, employment and training to ensure that services needed by the young person were continued
• There was insufficient timely sharing of information between the youth-based and adult-based services to enable sentence plans to be delivered without interruption; and
• In custody, insufficient forward planning and communication led to a gap in sentence planning and delivery of interventions after young people had transferred to an over-18 YOI/prison.

The Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance has submitted a response to the public consultation on a revision of the Code for Crown Prosecutors (below). This response is largely apropos of the reference to ‘maturity’ on page 12 as a factor for consideration in determining culpability.

The full consultation can be found here

On Monday, the Youth Justice Board launched a new Youth to Adult Transitions Framework, which aims to help practitioners manage transitions effectively in the community: http://www.justice.gov.uk/youth-justice/youth-to-adult-transitions/youth-to-adult-transitions-framework

The framework was closely informed by national best practice, including the work the Birmingham T2A pilot, which is featured as a case study.

Joyce Moseley, Chair of the T2A Alliance, contributed the foreword and also spoke at the launch event.

T2A will be working with the YJB and NOMS to ensure that more areas adopt this approach locally, and that it leads to more effective approaches for young people in the transition to adulthood.