Criminal justice professionals will, from 17 February 2012, have to consider a young adult’s ‘lack of maturity’ throughout the sentencing process, for all drug offences. 

On 24 January 2012, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales implemented its new definitive guideline on drug offence. This is the Council’s third guideline, following its guideline on assault and burglary.

For drug offences (as previously with assault and burglary) ‘Age and/or lack of maturity where it affects the responsibility of the offender’ is included as one of the ‘factors reducing seriousness or reflecting personal mitigation’ .

These guidelines are the first instances in British sentencing history that ‘maturity’ has specifically featured in guidelines for sentencing adults. A 2011 report by the Criminal Justice Alliance for T2A outlines these latest developments in more detail. There is also a T2A report on international norms and practices available for download.

A review of international research by Birmingham University in 2011 on maturity and criminal justice found that:

‘Research reviewed in this report points emphatically to the inappropriateness of an arbitrary age limit as the key factor determining the kind of judicial response an offender should receive, and that in the young adult group, the level of maturity exhibited by an offender is a valid factor to be considered within the legal process. There are, moreover, indications that this conclusion is becoming accepted in a growing number of national jurisdictions, albeit to varying degrees”.

Earlier in 2011, ComRes found that two thirds of the public and 80% of MPs support maturity of young adults being taken into account in the sentencing process.

T2A’s submission to the Sentencing Council’s consultation on the sentencing guidelines for drug offences is below.

Criminal justice professionals should now consider a young adult’s ‘lack of maturity’ throughout the sentencing process, for all offences of assault or burglary. 

On Monday 16th January, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales implemented its new definitive guideline on burglary offence. This is the Council’s second guideline, following its guideline on assault last year.

For burglary offences (as previously with assault) ‘Age and/or lack of maturity where it affects the responsibility of the offender’ is included as one of the ‘factors reducing seriousness or reflecting personal mitigation’ . This factor has also been proposed in the Council’s guidelines for offences relating to drugs.

These guidelines are the first instances in British sentencing history that ‘maturity’ has specifically featured in guidelines for sentencing adults. A 2011 report by the Criminal Justice Alliance for T2A outlines these latest developments in more detail. There is also a T2A report on international norms and practices available for download.

A review of international research by Birmingham University in 2011 on maturity and criminal justice found that:

‘Research reviewed in this report points emphatically to the inappropriateness of an arbitrary age limit as the key factor determining the kind of judicial response an offender should receive, and that in the young adult group, the level of maturity exhibited by an offender is a valid factor to be considered within the legal process. There are, moreover, indications that this conclusion is becoming accepted in a growing number of national jurisdictions, albeit to varying degrees”.

Earlier in 2011, ComRes found that two thirds of the public and 80% of MPs support maturity of young adults being taken into account in the sentencing process.

The Royal Society’s report Neuroscience and the Law has important implications for young adults in the criminal justice system. It sheds further light on how young people’s brains are still developing well into their twenties, affecting reasoning, judgement and self control. Research conducted by the Transition to Adulthood has provided compelling evidence that the criminal justice system should treat those aged 18-24 in a way which takes into account their varying maturity.

A ComRes poll of 150 MPs and 2000 members of the public carried out earlier this year found that almost seven out of ten people agree that psychological and emotional maturity should be taken into account by the courts when dealing with a young adult. This rises to eight out of ten among MPs.  The Sentencing Council’s guidelines also now include maturity as a mitigating factor in relation to a number of crimes.

With both scientific evidence and popular support, now is a good time for the government to adopt a more effective approach to the problem of young adults in the criminal justice system.

A Guardian ‘Response’ article by T2A Alliance member Criminal Justice Alliance is here http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/20/sentencing-young-adults-maturity

Young Adults in Transition: Local Matters, National Implications

Young Adults in Transition: The Local Picture in National Context

The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) has produced two briefings as part of the Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance: Young Adults in Transition: Local Matters, National Implications and Young Adults in Transition: The Local Picture in National Context.

These briefings explore the notion that where a young adult (aged 18-24) is born has a major impact on their life chances and outcomes. The briefings compare data on this age group across 21 parliamentary constituencies (in London, West Mercia and Birmingham), and looks in particular at outcomes such as the numbers who go to university, full time work or long term unemployment.

The research enables the reader to see what happens to most young people in a constituency area and how their circumstances differ between areas. The briefing explores the national policy challenges facing young adults in different areas, assesses the impact of the T2A pilots on their local constituencies and highlights commissioning implications for the delivery of effective services.

The briefings are co-written by Professor Danny Dorling, who delivered a speech on this topic at the T2A national conference in March 2011 (below).

CCJS is an independent public interest charity that engages with the worlds of research and policy, practice and campaigning. It is a member of the Transition to Adulthood Alliance.

The Criminal Justice Alliance, who recently published ‘Sentencing Young Adults: Getting it Right’ for the T2A Alliance, convened an event in the House of Commons on the 17th October 2011 to discuss the report’s findings in more detail with key experts.

The event  was hosted by Paul Maynard MP, and was supported by the Barrow Cadbury Trust. The panel of experts on sentencing were: John Thornhill, Chairman of the Magistrates’ Association; Roz Campion, Head of the Office of the Sentencing Council; and Adam Smith, Deputy Director of the Sentencing Directorate at the Ministry of Justice. A question and answer session with the panel followed the presentations.

The full transcript of the event is below.

Paul Maynard, Conservative MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys

In his opening remarks at the event, Paul Maynard MP said:

“As an MP one of my greatest frustrations and embarrassments is that I am morally responsible for the care of thousands of young people in our criminal justice system, who are often not having their dignity respected or their needs catered for. 

“As a new MP, one of the first things I did was go to see what happened to young offenders in my constituency – many get sent to Secure Children’s Home in Redbank or Hindley Youth Offender Institution.  On visits to both I was struck that we were trying to solve all of society’s problems in the justice system. I was horrified by case at a secure children’s home where a young man asked to be readmitted because it was the only place he had felt cared for.

“Issues of maturity interest me particularly. Too many young people have underlying communication difficulties which are not diagnosed. There are young people who are not emotionally mature or articulate and cannot put their case in court, and others who may be very mature who can do this well. We have a system without enough flexibility to account for someone’s emotional age as well as physical maturity.” 

This briefing highlights the main areas of interest for T2A ahead of the Report stage of the Bill.

The T2A Alliance welcomes some of the reforms contained in within the LASPO Bill. However we are disappointed that the Bill contains no specific proposals to introduce systemic changes to improve the criminal justice system for young adults.

18–24 year olds account for just ten percent of the population, but they account for a third of those sentenced to prison each year, a third of the probation service case load, and a third of the total economic and social costs of crime. Half re-offend within a year of release from prison, which clearly shows an urgent need for reform to support young people in their transition to adulthood to move away from crime.

T2A welcome amendments that abolish ‘certain sentences for dangerous offenders’, including the indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP). However the Alliance does have some concerns with the proposed alternatives to the current system. In particular, that imposing mandatory sentences will remove the discretion of judges to take into account a young adult’s lack of maturity when handing down an appropriate sentence.

The Transition to Adulthood Alliance has responded to two government consultations on social mobility, and the children’s secure estate.

Extracts are below and the full consultation responses can be downloaded via the links at the end of the page:

– Social Mobility

Extract from the T2A response:

Young adults aged 18-24, who constitute less than 10% of the population, are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system, making up more than one third of those commencing a community order or suspended sentence order, one third of the probation service’s caseload and almost one-third of those sentenced to prison each year.

Young adults in trouble with the law often have particularly high levels of complex need and are from backgrounds of great disadvantage, frequently with few or no educational qualifications and no experience of work. Vulnerable young adults often lack positive adult role models and also suffer from high levels of mental ill-health and alcohol and drug misuse problems. As a member of staff, describing the young adults using their specialist service, put it: ‘they’re very needy. They’re very vulnerable. They haven’t had good role models. They often have chaotic lives, and lead very hand to mouth existences. And some of them, despite their age, are amazingly unskilled at coping with adult responsibilities.’

Within this cohort, a quarter of men in Young Offender Institutions are, or are shortly to become, fathers and some 60% of women in custody are mothers, with 45% of those having parental responsibility at the time of the imprisonment. T2A would like to see greater recognition within the government’s social mobility and child poverty strategy of the importance of getting interventions with this group right. Our experience has found that poor transitions to adulthood impact on the next generation, as the wrong interventions with young adults within the criminal justice system can hamper their ability to maintain relationships and family contact, which perpetuates crime, social exclusion and poverty. Getting interventions with this group right can help young people move away from crime and improve their life chances and those of their children.

– Children’s Secure Estate

Extract from the T2A response:

T2A is pleased that the Ministry of Justice recognises that children and young adults require a distinct approach in the commissioning of services in the secure estate because they are continuing to develop and their offending behaviour is different t that of adults. We also agree that sentence planning processes and interventions are most effective when they recognise the developmental needs of young people.

However, we are disappointed that the proposed Strategy does not go further t recognise the distinctive needs of young adults aged 18-24. T2A strongly believe that the arbitrary cut-off age of 18 between the youth and the adult systems is no based on the current evidence. By reforming the system to reflect the distinct need of this group, a significant impact would be felt in reducing current levels o reoffending, overall spend and, importantly, reducing the numbers of crime victims.

The T2A Alliance strongly supports developing a tailored approach to working wit young adults that is flexible and sensitive to their developmental maturity. There i extensive evidence, both demographic and developmental, for recognising ‘young adulthood’ as a particular stage in life. 4 As such, T2A would like to see all young people up to the age of 21 held in the youth estate as this would support the natural process of desistance. In our experience, young adults often feel extremely intimidated in adult prisons, where they are often seen as easy targets for intimidation and bullying by older inmates. Furthermore, the rules that govern Young Offender Institutions have a much stronger emphasis on education.

T2A has concerns that the proposed Strategy, in seeking to enhance the differences between the children’s secure estate and the secure estate for adults, risks exacerbating further the current problems and gaps experienced by young adults transitioning between the two systems. At present, as young adults move from the youth to the adult criminal justice system, the level of support typically drops dramatically, the type of support given changes, and the suitability of services may be reduced. The effects of these processes are exacerbated by poor communication between youth and adult services.

The T2A Alliance’s work has shown that a poor transition can have a catastrophic impact on a young adult’s life, especially for disadvantaged young adults who often have no family or community support available to them and live chaotic lives. The wrong interventions can hamper a young adult’s ability to begin the process of rehabilitation, such as being able to access support services, take on opportunities  for learning and improving the skills, and maintain relationships and family contact— both of which can play a central role in supporting desistance from crime.

Three new films, each demonstrating the individual approaches of the T2A pilot projects in London, Birmingham and West Mercia (led by St Giles Trust, Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust, and YSS respectively), are now available to watch online on the T2A pilots page.

The formative evaluation, published this year, by the University of Oxford’s Centre for Criminology, can be downloaded from the Publications and Reports page.

The full film, about all three pilots, first shown at the T2A national conference in March 2011, is available below.

The Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance held events at all of the party conferences in September and October. Each event involved speakers from the T2A Alliance, the relevant Minister or senior party representative (Rt. Hon. Crispin Blunt MP, Helen Goodman MP and Lord Dholakia), and a representative from the T2A pilots. These were the only events at party conferences to directly address young adults in a criminal justice context. The events were well attended (between 35 and 45 attendees), and there was a high quality of presentations and discussion.

[The speakers at T2A’s Conservative Party Conference fringe event, from right to left: Rt. Hon. Crispin Blunt MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice; Sara Llewellin, CEO Barrow Cadbury Trust; Clive Martin, Director, Clinks; Vicki Helyar-Cardwell, Director, Criminal Justice Alliance]

Coverage by Children & Young People Now magazine of T2A’s Conservative fringe event (‘Blunt calls for adult prisoners to mentor young offenders’) is here.

[Left, Lord Navnit Dholakia, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords and President of Nacro, speaking at the T2A Liberal Democrat Party Conference fringe event in September; Right, Mike Maiden, CEO of Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust]

T2A will build on the good progress made at these meetings in the forthcoming months, and will seek to maintain its engagement with senior parliamentarians across all three parties.

The full details of the events were:

Liberal Democrats:

Title: ‘Delivering Effective Integrated Local Services for Young Adults in the Criminal Justice System’

Date: Monday 19^th September 2011, 12.30-2.00pm, Youth Zone (inside secure area), Birmingham ICC

Chair:

• Debbie Pippard, Head of Programmes, Barrow Cadbury Trust

Speakers:

• Lord Dholakia, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords; President, Nacro
• Clive Martin, Director, Clinks
• Penelope Gibbs, Director of the Out of Trouble Campaign, Prison Reform Trust
• Mike Maiden, Chief Executive, Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust

Labour:

Title: ‘Growing out of Crime’: Effective Responses to Young Adults in the Criminal Justice System

Date: Tuesday 27^th September 2011, 10.30-12.00pm, Youth Zone (inside secure area), Liverpool ACC

Chair:

• Ruth Cadbury, Chair of the Barrow Cadbury Trust

Speakers:

• Helen Goodman, Shadow Minister for Justice
• Frances Crook, Director, Howard League for Penal Reform
• Clive Martin, Director, Clinks
• Vicki Helyar-Cardwell, Director, Criminal Justice Alliance

Conservatives:

Title: ‘Delivering Effective Integrated Local Services for Young Adults in the Criminal Justice System’

Date: Monday 3^rd October 2011, 12.30-2.00pm

Venue: Manchester Central, Room 6 Zone (inside secure area), Manchester Central

Chair:

• Sara Llewellin, Chief Executive, Barrow Cadbury Trust

Speakers:

• Rt. Hon. Crispin Blunt MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice
• Clive Martin, Director of Clinks
• Rob Smith, Chief Executive of YSS (social exclusion charity, delivering the T2A pilot in Worcestershire)
• Vicki Helyar-Cardwell, Director, Criminal Justice Alliance

T2A has today launched its new website.

We hope that users will like the changes, and find it more accessible.

Feedback is welcome – please contact [email protected] with your views or suggestions.