The Sentencing Council should work towards developing formal sentencing principles for young adults, similar to the principles that are in place for children, says a report published by the Howard League for Penal Reform and  T2A.

The report, Judging Maturity: Exploring the role of maturity in the sentencing of young adults analysed 174 court judgments in cases involving young adults, focusing on how judges considered the concept of maturity. The findings suggest that the age and maturity of young adult defendants are not sufficiently considered by the courts at present. However, the research also shows that where a young adult’s immaturity is raised by court professionals, the courts are well placed to factor it in to achieve better outcomes – and more likely to do so if sentencing guidance encourages it.

There is substantial evidence that young adults – aged 18 to 25 – should be treated as a distinct group from older adults, largely because they are still maturing – neuroscience research has proven that brain development continues well into the mid-20s. Reaching adulthood is a process, not an event, and the key markers of adulthood, such as independent living, employment and establishing relationships, happen at different times for different young people.

Young adults are more likely to be caught up in the criminal justice system than older adults. They face significant difficulties coping in prison, where both the suicide rate and violence rates are higher among their age group than among the prison population as a whole, and they have higher reconviction rates following release than older adults. Between 2006 and 2016, 164 people aged 18 to 24 died in custody, including 136 who died by suicide.

While there is a wealth of guidance and case law concerning the sentencing of children, there is no set of principles to ensure that judges take a tailored approach to sentencing young adults. Tens of thousands of young adults who appear before the courts for sentencing each year could benefit from a distinct approach.

Roger Grimshaw, Research Director at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) carried out research for T2A into how practitioners have been using T2A’s ‘Taking Account of Maturity’ guide which was published in 2013.  His findings have just been published in his report ‘Making Sense of Maturity’.  

In the publication Making Sense of Maturity, research with practitioners and managers shows ways in which the Guide was disseminated and embraced within probation services, and how they see it in the present context. We wanted to find out how the Guide was being used to develop frontline probation practice, to discover any ‘ripple’ effects (for example, on other agencies), to provide a template for monitoring use of the Guide and to scope out directions for future guidance.

Because fieldwork started in 2014, at the point when Transforming Rehabilitation brought abrupt structural changes, the research was delayed as probation grappled with its new priorities. Later, it proved possible to listen to practitioners who were operating with the Guide in the new context that prevails today. Amid the turbulence, the buy-in of senior management to promoting a maturity agenda was a factor in making the Guide a part of practice with young adults, though not all probation areas will have followed the same path. The Guide’s use was enhanced by practice briefings and support which could then chime with organisational delivery, especially by specialist teams.

Maturity looks different from the point of view of probation practice, because there are specific social pathways that have created challenges to the maturity of young adults under supervision.

‘So maturity is fundamental, it’s absolutely fundamental. About 30% of our young people have been in care. 50% of them didn’t finish school. Out of the 50% that did, only 5% got a formal qualification. So the rites of passage that you would normally associate with teenage growth and maturity, they just haven’t hit those milestones.’ (Probation manager)

Missing out on education, going through the care system, having difficulty communicating with agencies: these are just some of the experiences that need to be properly understood. Good communication and the development of trust are vital if young adults are to be engaged. Hence caseloads have to be adjusted to allow time for this sensitive work and other agencies must be fully engaged.

Crucially, the future health of maturity initiatives in probation depends on: an active strategic commitment to developing practice sensitive to the maturity of young adults; and an awareness of the pathways and milestones that a well-informed social policy binding together all agencies should address. If practitioners want to turn those conditions into reality, our research will give them plenty of ammunition and evidence.

The Restorative Justice Council and Together for Mental Wellbeing join the T2A Alliance

The Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance is a coalition of 16 leading criminal justice, health and youth charities chaired by Joyce Moseley OBE. The Alliance helps to shape T2A’s policy positions and promotes a better criminal justice system for young adults to government, practitioners and the wider voluntary sector. Recently, T2A’s campaign management group undertook a membership audit of the Alliance, and identified the need for additional expertise on two current priorities.

One of these priorities is restorative justice, one of the 10 T2A Pathway stages. The Restorative Justice Council (RJC) is a national charity that sets the standards of what excellence should look like in restorative justice practice. It has played an instrumental role in T2A’s work on restorative justice, and will bring expertise on both national policy and service delivery. In 2013 the RJC published a report for T2A on the use of restorative justice with young adults, and has since undertaken similar reviews with regards to women and BAME young people.

Together for Mental Wellbeing joins T2A to add expertise on adult mental health provision. Together has already made a major contribution to T2A’s evidence base, through its Rotherham-based project as part of the T2A Pathway. It brings national expertise in policy and service delivery, particularly at the interface between mental health and criminal justice.

Joyce Moseley, Chair of the T2A Alliance said: “We are delighted that the Restorative Justice Council and Together for Mental Wellbeing have agreed to join the T2A Alliance. Both have already played a key role in shaping T2A’s policy positions and contributing to its evidence base. By joining the Alliance, our collective voice will be stronger in making the case for a more effective response to 18-25-year-olds involved in the criminal justice system.”

Linda Bryant, Director of Criminal Justice Services at Together for Mental Wellbeing said: “Together remains committed to working with young adults experiencing mental distress who find themselves in contact with the criminal justice system.  We recognise the need to treat young adults differently in  assessing their maturity levels and in providing tailored responses to meet their identified needs.  We are very much looking forward to joining the T2A coalition and working collaboratively with the other members to take forward the very valuable work of the Alliance”.

Jon Collins, CEO of the RJC said: “Restorative justice is a key intervention for young adults, helping them to desist from crime at an early stage and preventing unnecessary criminalisation whenever possible. We’re delighted to be joining the T2A Alliance and hope to contribute to its very important work to ensure better outcomes for young adults coming into contact with the criminal justice system.”

Last October, the Justice Select Committee published what T2A called ‘a landmark and visionary report’ on the management of young adults in the criminal justice system. T2A is encouraged by today’s government response to that inquiry, which demonstrates that the Ministry of Justice is moving in the right direction.

T2A agrees with the government’s overarching view that young adults ‘must remain a priority group for criminal justice agencies – partly because of their prominence in terms of numbers, but also because we have an opportunity to steer them in a different direction, helping them to tackle the factors that increase the risk of offending so that they may have fulfilled lives and make a positive contribution to society’. An ongoing commitment to young adults will be required to ensure that the government’s good intensions set out in its response are realised.

There has been progress made in policy and practice towards recognising young adults aged 18-25 as a distinct group at all stages of the criminal justice system, including the significant decline in young adults in prison (a fall of 42% between 2007 and 2015). We agree with the government that it is essential that this progress is built upon by encouraging efforts to stem the flow before young adults arrive at a prison sentence.

The government did not accept the Committee’s recommendation for the Ministry of Justice to produce a specific young adult strategy. T2A will continue to advocate for this and believes that the most effective way to address the needs of young adults and improve their outcomes is through a dedicated, distinct approach at all stages of the criminal justice system. However, a diverse portfolio of young adult specific work is presented in the response, demonstrating that much is already underway within Ministry of Justice and NOMS.

T2A will be pleased to support these activities, and seek to ensure that they result in positive change. These include the implementation of a new maturity screening tool for use in prisons and the community to help commissioners target resources and interventions that are most effective for young adults, and a review by the National Probation Service of what works best for young adults. It will be important that the Ministry of Justice draws these strands of work together, and to ensure that young adults are considered within other programmes of work such as reform prisons and the forthcoming employment strategy.

The Ministry of Justice was widely criticised for its proposals in 2013 to scrap the sentence of Detention in a Young Offender Institution (DYOI) – the only young adult specific legislative protection for 18-20 year olds in prison. T2A remains firmly in opposition to this proposal. We note that the decision to implement this proposal has been further delayed to enable a more detailed analysis of evidence on the most appropriate and effective management of young adults in custody. T2A will be keen to contribute to this process.

T2A welcomes the government’s interest in the T2A young adult court feasibility programme, which is due to complete shortly after a year working with 5 sites in England and Wales in partnership with the Centre for Justice Innovation. We hope to work with the Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies at a national and local level to test how reoffending and compliance outcomes for young adults can be improved through a more targeted court process.

It is encouraging that the case has been made of the benefits of brain injury rehabilitation for young prisoners, an area that T2A has been involved in for some time. It is good that specific attention is given in the response to young adult care leavers and BAME young adults – two groups of young adults who are significantly over-represented in the criminal justice system, and on whom T2A is currently focusing within its programme – and we will continue to work with partners to ensure that they remain high up on the agenda.

T2A will continue to work with government, criminal justice agencies and young adults themselves to make the Committee’s vision and the government’s commitments a reality.

The scale of Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the general population is only now beginning to be understood.  The T2A programme has published three reports on the TBI and young adult offenders: Repairing Shattered Lives: Brain injury and its implications for criminal justice (October 2012 with University of Exeter), Traumatic brain injury and offending – An economic analysis (July 2016 with Centre for Mental Health) and ‘Young people with TBI in custody’ (July 2016 – with Centre for Mental Health and Disability Trust Foundation) as well as currently supporting screening pilots in prisons.   The writer of this blog, Andy Bell from the Centre for Mental Health, organised a roundtable for experts from the West Midlands at the University of Birmingham to discuss the implications of CMH’s recent research on TBI.  Here he blogs about how early action in addressing TBI could have huge social and economic benefit.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common and serious health issue. It affects millions of people and carries an economic and social cost of £15 billion a year nationally. People who have sustained a traumatic brain injury have a greater likelihood of mental ill health and of offending, as well as suffering from many other life difficulties.

Barrow Cadbury Trust and Centre for Mental Health recently organised a roundtable for experts from the West Midlands, hosted by the University of Birmingham, to discuss the implications of recent research about TBI (https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/traumatic-brain-injury) and the ways in which support might be improved in the West Midlands region.

Addressing TBI in an effective (and efficient) way requires collective action across public services. No agency or sector can deal with it alone. We need a comprehensive approach that includes prevention, early identification and effective support from early childhood and throughout life.

West Midlands Devolution

The West Midlands devolution deal presents a unique opportunity to take a ‘whole place’ approach to TBI. The Combined Authority has already prioritised mental health and youth justice as cross-sector issues it aims to address across the region. Developing an effective response to TBI would contribute to both and to the overall wellbeing of the population.

Preventing head injuries is challenging but action to reduce risk would include measures to tackle domestic violence (the cumulative impact of physical abuse has been noted as a significant problem for women in prison), to promote positive parenting and to tackle bullying in schools. These also have a major impact on emotional wellbeing and future life chances. Improved support for children with ADHD and autism spectrum disorders can also reduce the heightened risk of TBI in these groups of young people. All of these actions should also reduce health inequalities by addressing the greater risks among people in the most deprived and marginalised communities in the West Midlands.

For those who do sustain head injuries, and particularly those who have experienced multiple traumas, identification is vital to ensure that effective support is offered and adjustments are made to reflect their vulnerability. Schools, hospitals, police stations and prisons can all ask simple questions to screen for head injuries. This can help them to ensure they offer support where it is needed, for example to manage a child’s behaviour in school and avoid excluding a young person whose behaviour results from a head injury where some additional support might be of benefit.

TBI and the CJS

It is estimated that up to 60% of prisoners have sustained head injuries. It is therefore vital that the whole of the criminal justice system works with an awareness of TBI and an ability to respond effectively. Liaison and diversion teams, for example, can screen for TBI alongside other vulnerabilities. Prisons can offer all of their staff (including not just prison officers but education and other workers) training about TBI as part of becoming an enabling environment. Specialist linkworkers in prisons have also been found to provide effective support to individuals with TBI. And for people leaving prison, robust support is essential to help them to adjust to life outside and cope with the demands and difficulties they will face.

There are a number of initiatives already in place to build upon: HMP Drake Hall provides all staff with training in working with trauma and supports women prisoners who have experienced abuse and violence. The Geese Theatre Company provides ‘safe spaces’ for prisoners to explore their emotional wellbeing and what would help them to get back in control of their lives. And there are specialist services for offenders in the community, including for women, that offer peer support and help with health issues, that could provide more bespoke support for those with head injuries.

The significance of TBI is only beginning to be understood. But it is now clear that joint action that brings together local authorities, NHS organisations, schools, the criminal justice system and voluntary and community bodies (among others) will be essential to develop an effective response. From public health teams including TBI in local needs assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies to schools providing extra support to children who have sustained head injuries, we can bring about a bigger focus on prevention and early help. And by working across the justice system, we can enable some of the most vulnerable and prolific offenders to get their lives back on track.

There was widespread positive press coverage yesterday of the House of Commons Justice Committee’s report on young adult offenders, which called for a distinct approach for 18-25 year olds throughout the criminal justice system, and more generally T2A’s programme of work.

This is a landmark moment for the young adult agenda, and also major recognition of all the work that professionals, researchers and campaigners have contributed to its pursuit.

What is particularly encouraging is that the media were very interested in the detail of the report, especially the neuroscience that underpinned it.

T2A will now be pursuing an action plan to ensure that we maintain and build on this positive momentum.

Below are some highlights:

Independent

Guardian

BBC Online

Politics Home

Daily Mail

T2A also appeared on:

• BBC Radio 4 Today Programme (from 7.15am)
• BBC World Service (from 11.30am)
• BBC 2’s Victoria Derbyshire Show (15 minute feature)
• BBC 1’s “News at One”
• BBC News Channel each hour

Two excellent blogs have also been written by T2A Alliance members and partners:

Catch22: https://www.catch-22.org.uk/news/catch22-responds-justice-select-committee-inquiry-young-adult-offenders/

Centre for Justice Innovation: http://justiceinnovation.org/2259-2/

The Transition to Adulthood Alliance (T2A) wholeheartedly welcomes the Justice Committee’s report of its Inquiry on Young Adult Offenders, and fully endorses its “blueprint” for a strategic approach to the treatment of young adults in the criminal justice system.

Reacting to the Committee’s unequivocal conclusion that “there is overwhelming evidence that the criminal justice system does not adequately address the distinct needs of young adults” and that “there is a strong case for a distinct approach”, Joyce Moseley OBE, Chair of the T2A Alliance said:

“18-25-year-olds in the criminal justice system have a hugely untapped capacity to address their behaviour and permanently “grow out of crime”. But all of us – particularly victims, the young adults themselves and their communities – are being let down by a lack of strategy at the top that takes account of their distinct stage in life. For too long, successive governments have overlooked the value of a delivering a specific criminal justice approach for young adults, leaving it to a patchwork of pioneers on the ground to do their best to meet the particular needs of this age group.

“Now, having reviewed the extensive and authoritative body of evidence from disciplines including neuroscience, criminology and psychology, all of which support calls for a distinct approach for young adults, the Justice Committee has rightly called on the government to pursue a robust and bold agenda dedicated to enabling young adults who commit crime to turn their lives around. T2A looks forward to working with the Ministry of Justice and other agencies to implement the Committee’s landmark and visionary report in full and without delay.”

The Committee’s report includes a bold blueprint for a distinct approach to young adults throughout the criminal justice system, which it says is presented “in the light of the Government’s failure to act and in recognition of the weight and wealth of evidence provided to us in the course of our inquiry, as well as the overwhelming enthusiasm within the sector for change”.

The Committee’s proposals include:

• That the prison sentence of ‘Detention in a Young Offender Institution’ (DYOIs) should be extended in forthcoming legislation to include all 18-25 year olds (it is currently restricted to those aged 18-20), and that various models of custody for young adults be piloted by the Ministry of Justice before any decision is made about long-term provision for this age group. T2A has campaigned strongly on both these points, in opposition to government proposals in 2013 to scrap the sentence of DYOI.
• Distinct young adult courts should be piloted, which T2A is currently developing in five sites across England and Wales in partnership with the Centre for Justice Innovation (CJI).

The Committee recognised that young adults are over-represented in the criminal justice system and also at greater risk of being victims of crime.  Its strong recognition that many young adults in prison have faced additional challenges such as being in care (who make up around two fifths of young adults in prison) and experiencing brain injury (up to 70% of young people in prison), is particularly welcome and long overdue. T2A has worked with the Care Leavers’ Association to develop a national toolkit for young adult care leavers involved the criminal justice system, undertaken specific research and demonstration projects to show how young people with brain injuries in prison can be rehabilitated.

The Committee has specific recommendations relating to the fact that young black and Muslim men are disproportionately likely to end up in the criminal justice system (recognising the important contribution of Baroness Lola Young’s 2014 report), and rightly highlights that young women’s particular vulnerabilities and needs are different both to those of young men and older women and that they require a tailored response.

T2A also welcomes the Committee conclusion that all 18-25 year olds should be recognised as a distinct group, not just those within a criminal justice context, but also with regards to welfare, work, education and health. T2A strongly agrees that there should be cross-governmental responsibility to enable young adults, particularly those who have faced challenge and difficulty, to thrive and not be thwarted.

Notes

1. Selection of T2A evidence: Brain injury: Repairing Shattered Lives: Brain injury and its implications for criminal justice, Prof Huw Williams; Young adult courts: Young Adults in Court – Developing a tailored approach, Centre for Justice Innovation; Young adults in custody: The Way Forward; Muslim young adults: Young Muslims on Trial, Maslaha
2. Baroness Lola Young’s Report on the over-representation of Black and Muslim young adult men in the criminal justice system is here: http://www.youngreview.org.uk/
3. Justice Committee website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/justice-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/young-adult-offenders/
4. T2A’s original submission to the Young Adult Offenders Inquiry is here

Together for Mental Wellbeing’s T2A Pathway project based in Rotherham has won an award for innovation in young people’s mental health at the Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards.  These awards recognise excellence in mental health and mental health services.  The project offers support to vulnerable young adults who are in contact with police and emergency services.

The project is one of the six Transition to Adulthood Pathway projects, which collectively have delivered interventions to several hundred young adults aged 18-25 since 2014.

A film featuring the project is below

A major report has been launched today by the US Department of Justice summarising 56 young adult specific criminal justice interventions across the United States.

Produced by The National Institute of Justice – the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice – it reports the widespread momentum building across the country for young adult specific interventions, defining this group as those aged 18-25. It notes that:

All established programs included in the scan identified some level of success…Achievement of success generally focused on the reduction of recidivism rates. A common theme in all programs is the inclusion of case management or coordination, combined with intensive services. Individualized services included education or vocational training, mental and/or substance abuse treatment, and assistance with housing and employment. Many programs offer reduced sentencing or probation, expungement of records, or a reduction in charges as an incentive for participation. Programs ranged from those still in the developmental stages to several that have provided services and supports to justice-involved young adults for several years.

The report also notes a series of legislative developments at State level, which have sought to deliver distinct approaches to young adults:

Legislative changes in the approach to how young adults are handled within the justice system have centered around three main themes. This includes raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction, consideration of mitigating circumstances in sentencing, and the expungement of criminal records of young adults. Connecticut has garnered much attention for the governor’s proposal to raise the age at which a person can be tried as an adult to 21 years. Several states have proposed legislation that would allow judges to take into account the age at which a crime is committed as a mitigating factor in sentencing, allowing for lesser sentences based on the maturation level of young adults. Several states have considered laws to expunge the criminal records of young adults, reducing the long-term consequences of actions of young adults who may lack the judgment and critical thinking skills of older adults.

Six of these projects are young adult courts:

In these programs, the courts initiated the program and serve as the managing entity. Several persons interviewed indicated they knew of other jurisdictions that are considering establishing a court specifically for young adults. These programs are generally funded through the state supreme court system. They may have a judge or judges dedicated solely to the program or this may be one of their court responsibilities within the jurisdiction. In some cases, the judge involved identified the need for a specialized court and collaborated with probation, county attorneys, community agencies and leaders in the community to develop the program. Several programs mentioned that they modeled their programs on drug courts or juvenile/family courts, using an approach involving intensive services and frequent contact (court hearings) to monitor participant progress. In this category and others, the program may provide the opportunity for charges to be reduced and/or records expunged for those participants successfully completing the program. In some cases, a “certificate of completion” or graduation ceremony is incorporated to formally acknowledge the accomplishment of participants.

Earlier this year, T2A (in partnership with the Centre for Justice Innovation) launched a new initiative to establish a network of young adult criminal courts in England and Wales. Five areas have now been selected, and it is hoped that the pilots will go live in very early 2017.

The National Offender Management Service’s policy of “mixing” young adults with older adults was cited as driving up levels of violence in the prison system, according to the annual report from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, which was published today. But young adult prisons were found to be lacking in purposeful activity, with 38% of young adults in YOIs spending under 2 hours out of their cells, less than prisoners in all other prison categories.

T2A has long campaigned for the retention of specialist young adult prisons, but argued that the current system is failing and that YOIs should be reformed, better resourced and properly staffed. T2A has called for the retention of the sentence of Detention in a Young Offender Institution (DYOI) but argued that it should be extended beyond the current 18-20 age limit to 18-25. In recent years, nearly all distinct young adult prisons have been re-roled as mixed establishments, with only three distinct YOIs remaining. The government had previously cited violence reduction as a key justification for mixing older adults with young adults, which today’s report from HMIP contradicts.

The report notes that: “With only a very few exceptions, the frequency and seriousness of acts of violence had increased in men’s adult and young adult prisons…Assaults against staff had also increased significantly, and incidents included some extremely serious acts of violent mass indiscipline. The reasons cited for the increase in violence across the estate included curtailed regimes, a lack of activity, the emergence of NPS, debt and the mixing of young adults with adult male prisoners.”

Drug availability in prisons is unacceptably high but, encouragingly for young adult prisons, prisoner access to drugs was least likely in distinct young adult institutions. However, young adult prisons were found to be lacking in purposeful activity, with no distinct YOIs rated ‘good’ in this regard, emphasising the need for proper resourcing for this age group. 38% of young adults in YOIs reported spending under 2 hours out of cells, less time than prisoners in all other prison categories. At Aylesbury, a young adult training prison, some prisoners spent 23 hours a day locked up.

The report goes on to note that while the number of “young adult men aged 18–20 in prison had remained broadly static at 4,547…those who remained in custody were inevitably some of the most vulnerable and troubled young adults.”

In response to the government’s policy on mixing, HMIP’s report calls for “a clear and coherent strategy to ensure the management of young adult men in the wider prison population, and that this needed to be based on the individual needs of the young adult men themselves.”