News story

Early intervention for lifelong benefits

Susannah Hancock, Youth Justice Board Member, sets out the case for prevention and diversion in youth justice.

Bishop Desmond Tutu has been widely quoted as saying: ‘There comes a point where we need to stop pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.’ This idea has become influential in health, policing and many other spheres, including youth justice.

For me it describes the fact that it is easier, more effective and costs less to support someone to not get into a bad situation in the first place than it is to get them out of it once they are there. Even without the ethical considerations, all the evidence points to this being the smart thing to do, and that’s why I’m so passionate about early intervention.

What is early intervention in the youth justice system?

In youth justice early intervention tends to be split into two activities: prevention and diversion. Prevention helps stop children becoming involved in crime by helping to address their unmet needs and vulnerabilities and promote positive outcomes – such as supporting them to stay in school or making sure they have a safe home environment.

Diversion is where services intervene early with a child who may have committed or be linked to an offence to address the underlying reasons for their behaviour. The child receives proportionate support and interventions to make more positive choices while avoiding a criminal record and all the stigma and reduction of opportunity that brings.

Why is early intervention so important?

The youth justice system’s main aim is to prevent offending by children. So prevention needs to be at the heart of everything we do. Sometimes as adults, as organisations and as a society, we fall short on this and fail to ensure prevention is embedded across our systems and practices. This can result in children being drawn into the criminal justice system; harm to victims and wider communities, and long-term social and financial costs.

Children who become involved in crime are, as you’d expect, more likely to then reoffend. For the year ending March 2021, those with no previous offences had a reoffending rate of 16.4%, compared to 63.8% for those who had committed 11 or more previous offences. Getting in early stops this vicious spiral. The Ministry of Justice estimates that reoffending by children costs society around £1.5billion per year. Better for this money to be invested in positive activities and outcomes for children. Our ambition as a society should always be to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to thrive, with our communities kept safe and fewer victims.

What’s happening with early intervention in the youth justice system?

Last week we published a report into prevention and diversion which, working with the Probation Service and Association of Youth Justice Service Managers, explored the current state of early intervention, what barriers exist and initiated projects to make improvements.

The report found that:

  • on average more than half of a youth justice service caseload are children receiving preventative or diversionary support
  • there is widespread confusion over definitions of early intervention practices
  • a significant gap in data exists which is making it difficult to measure success and areas for improvement
  • there is diverse and inconsistent practice owing to a lack of central guidance

What needs to happen now?

The findings of the report have strengthened a number of initiatives from the YJB including: clarifying definitions so that all practitioners are working from the same understanding and approach; new diversion data collection from 2023/24, and updated guidance on how to work with children who don’t need to go to court for an offence to be published this year.

Outside of the report, we need sustained investment coupled with a system-wide commitment to prevention to make this work. It cannot be right that children have to wait until they have committed a crime and come into the youth justice system before their needs or vulnerabilities are met. From the children who only get regular meals once they are in prison, to the boys and girls who join gangs to escape poverty, each case is tragic and potentially avoidable. All agencies need to understand and invest in their role to ensure a child’s basic needs are met much earlier. Particular focus needs to be given to ensure groups who are already over-represented in the system are supported and can benefit.

There is compelling evidence that shows us that if we intervene earlier with vulnerable children, then their likelihood of committing an offence is much lower. And in turn this means fewer victims and safer communities for us all. This has got to be the way forward.

I hope you will find time to read the recent report and to watch a short animation created by our youth ambassadors on the Youth Justice Resource Hub.

Published 9 February 2023