Youth and Crime
Explanations
Family life There have been consistent conclusion that high risk factors are a lack of parental attachment and a lack of parental supervision. Bowling survey shows that if there is lack of parental attachment then young people are almost 3x more likely to offend School/education Other lifestyle factors (e.g. poverty, drug use, alcohol)
Desistance Factors (why do young people stop offending)
Females: - Leaving education - Finding stable employment - Leaving home - Developing long term relationships All factors relevant to growing up Males: - Not a clear pattern - ? Continuing to live at home - parental supervision and attachment perhaps - ? Marriage/cohabitation
First time entrants to YJS
First caution or conviction Decreased by 85% in 10 years Decreased by 11% in last year Each year fewer young people seem to be getting into trouble First time offenders are getting older Average age of First Time Entrant (FTE ) - 2007 14.5 years - 2017 - 15.2 years FTEs 10-14 decreased by 90% in 10 years FTEs 15-17 decreased by 81% in 10 years
Age of desistance (stopping offending)
G & B: - Males - desistance begins mid-20s (peak at 17/18) - Females - desistance begins 15 - Females - offending at 20 is 5 times lower than at 15 YLS: - males = over 21 - Females = over 16 For males takes longer to stop offending Different shaped bell curves for males and females
Types of crime
Violence against the person - 28% (range from minor assaults to homicides) "Other" (incl possess knife) - 12% (wide category) Criminal Damage - 11% Theft and Handling - 11% Motoring offences - 10% Drugs - 8% Public order - 7% Burglary - 4% Breach of statutory order - 3% Robbery - 3% Sexual offences - 3%
What do we know about youth crime and how do we know it?
- Annual Crime statistics - official source crime statistics extent of offending - recorded by police which can be seen as problematic because a lot of people do not report their crimes (leaves out the dark figure of crime) and some crimes are victim less (Youth Justice Board) - BCS (British Crime Survey)/(now called Crime Statistics of England and Wales) CSEW- official source of crime statistics, it victim survey combined with police recorded stats. Each year around 20,000 people are randomly selected (through their postcode and whoever opened their door was asked to do they survey) and are asked whether they have been a victim of a crime, if they reported, anything else they know about the offender, what they think about the sentencing policy etc. the goal is to make it as representative as possible so we can make generalizations of the data. It's time consuming and takes up a bit of money but seems to be worth it to cover unrecorded crime (dark figure of crime) - Self-report studies - smaller an some are publicly funded, they seek to find a number of people from a specific age range and ask them a series of questions about their own behavior. Young people given assurance of anonymity, and hope is that they're honest asked about their background, homelife and what they do in their free time. Tries to see link/ statistical causes of offending to background of offender.
Tribunals: Crown Court
- Murder or grave crime - Tried jointly with adult when other person may have just turned 18 - Formal proceedings where formal language is used - Crown court is mostly avoided
Annual statistics 2016/17: Headlines
- The number of first time entrants has fallen by 85% over the last 10 years, and by 11% in the last year. - The number of children and young people who received a caution or sentence has fallen by 81% over the last 10 years, and by 14% in the last year. - The number of knife offences committed by children and young people has increased by 11% since the year ending March 2012, while the number of these offences committed by adults has fallen by 10% over the same period.
Types of offences - Youth Lifestyle Survey:
- Under 18 - most property incl shoplifting, criminal damage, burglary, buying stolen goods - Over 16 - male violence increased - Over 20 - male and female fraud increased - Over 21 - all female crime very low chivalry thesis?
explain how Youth Rehabilitation Orders Can be added to a rehabilitation order when a young person is in danger of going into custody:
- a fostering requirement (placed in foster care or can take the form of local authority residence requirement) - intensive supervision and surveillance (Youth offending team drawing up a timetable for young person for a week and every moment of their day involves some sort of supervision, surveillance and named activity - If they still don't comply, they may find themselves in custody which is rare but sometimes necesary
Types of offences - Graham & Bowling
- mostly property crime and not violence: - Males - property offences twice as likely - Females - property offences three times more likely
Young People's contribution to the crime problem
2006 - 505,200 known offenders all ages 2006 - 124,500 known offenders aged 10-17 2006 - 72,900 known offenders aged 18-21 10-17 years olds accounted for 25% of all known offenders in 2006 18-21 year olds accounted for 14% of all known offenders 10-21 year olds accounted for 39% of all convictions in 2006 seen as a criminogenic age group
Levels of offending (Graham & Bowling) surey of young people 15-25
55% males and 31% females admit to offending at some time in their life 28% males and 12% females admitted to an offence in the previous year 56% males and 57% females admitted to 1 or 2 offences 26% males and 9% females admitted to more than 5 offences Might tell us more about the bell curve that young people once they start offending reoffend once or twice then stop Male offending s quite prevalent
Extent of offending: MORI Youth Survey
60% youths excluded from school offended in previous year almost 3x higher than those who were not excluded Could show that once you are excluded from school you commit higher levels of crime or could also show that when you commit higher levels of crime you are excluded from school Data on ethnic origin and region not available for this group
Youth offender panels
Attended by: - Young offender - YOP - youth offending pannel - Appropriate person/parent (so it is not so confrontational) - Victim? - Person capable of having a positive influence on the offender - adult that gives positive influence e.g. mentor, religious leader, teacher etc.
Types of offences - Young People & Crime - Anti-Social Behavior:
Behavior which causes harassment, harm or distress to one or more persons no of the same households of the perpetrator - 13% admitted "being noisy or rude in public" - 11% - causing a neighbor to complain - 4% - graffiti - 2% racial/religious harassment or abuse
Sentencing Options that the Youth Court Magistrate have:
Conditional Discharge - available for young people who's offending is not very serious and can benefit from the threat. It is usually rare Referral order - Normally the first option, not possible for young person to get conditional order with or after this Youth rehabilitation Order - youth equivalent to a community order YRO with Intensive Supervision and Surveillance - community order with very high level of intervention and high level of requirements before taking the young person to custody CJA 2003 Detention and Training Order - where young person finds themselves in custody
Taylor Report - the future of youth justice?
Court and sentencing system is not an appropriate way to assist young people with offending behavior and how to grow out of it Major review of youth justice system - reported December 2016 Proposes: Children's panels to take over the work of the Youth Court in all but most serious cases Scottish Children's Hearings system? They have never had a youth court and have always had children's hearings, if a child commits a crime not too serious, they are referred to a children's hearing panel completely outside a criminal justice system - social work base panel assess whether there is a welfare need. Crime is deal by reviewing welfare needs that are needed. Been there since 1950s See: Lord Taylor, Review of the Youth Justice System in England and Wales Cm9298 (2016, HMSO) Ministry of Justice, The government response to Charlie Taylor's Review of the Youth Justice System (2016, Ministry of Justice)
Parental Responsibility
Court can place order on parents to reinforce order on child: Attendance at Court (can get order to do this) especially if young person is under 16 they can be sent back Financial Penalties - given a fine maybe and have to pay victim surcharge, sometimes have to pay compensation Parental Bindover - not used anymore Parenting Order - order given to parent to take care and control of their child if their child reoffends then they can be seen as breaching that order Parenting Contract -
Self report Surveys
Data that comes from these surveys J Graham and B Bowling Young People and Crime HORS 145 (HMSO, 1995) They were working for the home office at the time so it was funded by HO They did follow-up surveys called 'youth lifestyle' surveys and these surveys had similar results; this parttern increases reliability of these surveys C Flood-Page, S Campbell, V Harrington and J Miller Youth Crime: Findings from the 1998/99 Youth Lifestyles Survey HORS 209 (London, TSO, 2000). A previous Youth Lifestyles Survey had been conducted in 1992/3. R Hayward and C Sharp Young People, Crime and Anti-social Behaviour: Findings from the 2003 Crime and Justice Survey HO Findings No 245 (Home office, 2005) hard to surver ASBO bcause there is no concreate definition of what it is K East and S Campbell Aspects of Crime: Young Offenders (home office, 1999) MORI Youth Survey 2004 (Youth Justice Board) - gives us some indication between education and youth crime Young People and Crime 2006 (Home Office)
Custody
Detention and Training Order Can go to 1/3 types of institutions - LA (secure) accommodation (locked children's home where they may live with other children who are not offenders, but they are locked - younger children) - Secure training centre (locked, small, and are prisons but small detention centers for younger children) - Young Offender Institution (for slightly older children, is a prison that holds young offenders and young adult offenders) Detention training order has to be for an even number of months as you spend half of that order is in custody and the other half being supervised by youth offending team being supervised in the community 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 18 or 24 months
Arrests 2016/17
Fallen by 79% in 10 years Fallen by 14% in last year Arrests of youths aged 10-17 - 28% BAME and 72% white no. of BAME are proportionally lower than how many are in the general population - 84% male 16% female Number or youth in the CJS are falling because the police are not arresting them
Onset of offending (Age young people start offending)
Graham & Bowling (1995): - males = 15 - Females = 15 YLS: - Males = 13½ - Females = 14 MORI youth survey: - only ask younger people so is a factor - In education = 11-12 - Excluded = 10-11 Least offending at younger ages as rarely a few offenders are aged 10,11 or 12 Most youth offending starts at age 14+
Peak ages of offending
Graham & Bowling: Males = 17; females = 15 YLS: Males = 18; females = 14 Young people & crime 2006: - Both = 14-17 crime - Both = 14-15 ASB MORI youth survey: Both = 14 - found that if a young person did not offend by the age of 14 they were unlikely ever to do so
Education
High risk factors: - Non-attendance/truancy/exclusion (MORI) - Attachment - Poor school environment - achievement Not necessarily about what school you went to but more about attachment to school that lowered the risk of offending (MORI survey) Those who are excluded from schools, allowed not to go or choose not to go have a high level of offending
Tribunals
If a case goes to court it will go to one of these 2 tribunals: Youth Court - branch of magistrates dealing only with criminal offences of 10-17 y/o - 10-17 incl. - Criminal jurisdiction - Youth panel - Informal proceedings where there is engagement with parents, young people addressed by first name and encourage to speak for themselves aim is so the young person is not too frightened magistrates do not use legal terminology and lawyers need to as well - assaults, robberies and some sexual offences
Other lifestyle factors
Low risk factors: - Poverty High risk factors: - Drugs - Alcohol - Particularly in relation to serious or persistent offending and ASB All self-report surveys showed that poverty in combination with other risk factors involve high risk of offending not just poverty itself Young People and Crime survey in particular found a link between drugs and alcohol
Family Life
Low risk factors: - Structure of family - Family size = takes away myth that single parent families create more offenders - Number of siblings High risk factors: - Parental attachment = measure of how positive relationship is with parent and child - not too many arguments, if parents are less present or interested, parents at work most of time . Where there is a genuine emotional bond with parents - Parental supervision All that matters is how well the parents and children get on, the style of parenting and how they get on - could show that more well off parents who work a lot have a higher chance of having children that are offenders than less well-off parents who have a higher quality relationship with their chlild
Extent of offending: MORI Youth Survey 11-16 y/o asked similar questions to G+B
MORI Youth Survey Compared offending rates of 11-16 year old's in mainstream education and 11-17-year old's excluded from school 26% in education committed a crime 37% black youths offended 26% white youths offended 20% Asian youths offended 31% youths in South East & North West 24% youths in London 20% youths in Wales 19% youths in East
Youth offender panels - Meetings
Meeting 1 In the first meeting they will talk about the offence, the young person's behavior, their life and what is going on at home and school. Revisit restorative justice questions they were asked in court A discussion can be had about the offence at the end of which all people can negotiate a "contract" which is signed by the panel, the young person and copies are exchanged The terms contain details of young person's punishment e.g. I will help mum with washing up every day, I will go to school everyday Could be asked to pay reoperations to victim, apologize or write a letter Progress Meeting Meeting during the course of the referral order to see how the young person is getting on, if they do not comply then a breach can be referred back to the court Final Meeting to assess satisfactory compliance Referral order will come to an end if it is satisfied, can be ended early. If it is fully complied with then the offence will be removed from the young person's criminal record which will make a big difference to their lives Restorative justice as victim comes a long and can be seen as mediation YOP example is in lecture 9 at 2:04
Youth Cautions 2016/17
Once a police officer has arrested a young person, they can issue a caution Used mostly when a young person commits their first offence and when they plead/admit guilty Decrease in cautions is greater than decrease in arrests is questionable. Less commonly given to young people who are in possession of offensive weapons 90% decrease in 10 years 20% decrease in last year Decreases across all offence types except possession of offensive weapon and robbery Youth cautions: - 84% white and 16% BAME - 78% male and 22% female Proportion of females given cautions is greater than those arrested, meaning that they are more likely to be given cautions than arrested - gender discrimination?
Referral Order
PCCA Act 2000 (Police and Criminal Courts Sentencing Act) Mandatory sentence for all first time offenders who plead guilty Offence must not be so serious Go-to order Court makes the referral order and decides how long it should be (3-12 months) Order refers young person to a youth offender panel which is a panel of 3 people that has a member of the youth offending team and 2 trained volunteers - Encourages a young person to take responsibility for their offending and appreciate the consequences of their offending on others - Less passive role for the young person in the sentencing process. Encourages person to be more active in the process - Restorative justice - Intervention to tackle the causes of crime
YOPs - Problems?
Restorative Justice? talks about the offence and a punishment comes after the end so it is thought not to be pure restorative justice (punishment is outlined in contract) Victim is allowed to come but rarely does so more work needs to be done on why that is. If victim does not attend, then that questions the extent to which this is restorative Contractual Symbolism has been criticized. How fair is it to expect a young person to understand the terms of a contractual negation and stand up for themselves when they are not even allowed to sign one under the age of 18 in other areas of their lives. Other people say you can do this without making it so difficult, in a youth friendly way Resources - members of the youth offending team have to be very involved both in and out of meetings with youth, that have to be trained and places to meet have to be made in mutual territory - not home mostly office. Proportionality of response Due Process issues - lawyers not allowed in panel meetings and do not get involved at all so people in meetings have to ensure that the elements of the crime are proportionate to the sentence and not over burdening young people.
Additional Overarching guidelines for sentencers
Restorative justice disposals may be of particular value for children and young people as they can encourage them to take responsibility for their actions and understand the impact their offence may have had on others Children and young people are not fully developed and they have not attained full maturity. As such, this can impact on their decision making and risk taking behaviour. It is important to consider the extent to which the child or young person has been acting impulsively and whether their conduct has been affected by inexperience, emotional volatility or negative influences. They should, if possible, be given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes without undue penalisation or stigma, especially as a court sanction might have a significant effect on the prospects and opportunities of the child or young
The Principal Aim for the YJS
Section 37 CDA 1998 "prevent offending" Meaning??? Home office elaborated by explaining that "prevent offending" revolved around these 6 things 1. Swift administration of justice 2. Confronting the consequences - rehabilitation 3. Intervention to tackle the causes of crime - rehabilitation 4. Proportionate punishment - retribution 5. Encourage reparation - restorative justice 6. Reinforce the responsibilities of parents
Annual statistics 2016/17
Suggest that we have these raw numbers in the Youth Justice System: 16,500 enter they Youth Justice System (YJS) for the first time (first contact with either the police from getting a warning or to the youth court - being prosecuted) 28,400 children and young people were cautioned or convicted 4,000 proven offences involving possession of a knife or offensive weapon 1,600 children and young people were sentenced to custody (small proportion compared to 16,000) Children and young people from a BAME background are overrepresented in custody 42.2% of children and young people reoffended
Amount of crime
That the YJS is decreasing Number of proven offences by young people (conviction or caution): - 2007 295,100 - 2017 73,000 - Decrease of 75% in 10 years - Decrease of 8% in one year
Youth - the legal context
Under 10 - 'doli incapax' which means incapable of evil You can look at 'doli incapax' in 2 ways: - Legal view = can be seen as not making any sense as its easy to say children understand the moral nature of their actions, but in other countries their system is different so are we suggesting that children over here understand more when it comes to their conduct at the age of 10 but children in other countries such as Spain do not understand until they are 16 ? - Policy view Minimum age of criminal responsibility is 10 10 - 14 - presumption of doli incapax abolished, but this can be rebutted by the prosecution that the young person fully understood what they were doing 10 - 17 incl. - young persons - (youth justice system deals with this age group) they are dealt with mainly in the youth court 18-20 incl. - at these ages the criminal justice team now sees them as young adults. A penalty that is available to young adults but not adults = attendance center orders. They would serve prison sentence in a young offenders prison not adult one 21+ - adults
Welfare
Welfare principle (criminal law) In having regard to the welfare of the child or young person, a court should ensure that it is alert to: - any mental health problems or learning difficulties/disabilities. - any experiences of brain injury or traumatic life experience (including exposure to drug and alcohol abuse) and the developmental impact this may have had. - any speech and language difficulties and the effect this may have on the ability of the child or young person (or any accompanying adult) to communicate with the court, to understand the sanction imposed or to fulfil the obligations resulting from that sanction; - the vulnerability of children and young people to self harm, particularly within a custodial environment; and - the effect on children and young people of experiences of loss and neglect and/or abuse
Overarching guidelines for sentencers
When sentencing children or young people a court must have regard to: - the principal aim of the youth justice system (to prevent offending by children and young people); and - the welfare of the child or young person. While the seriousness of the offence will be the starting point, the approach to sentencing should be individualistic and focused on the child or young person, as opposed to offence focused. For a child or young person, the sentence should focus on rehabilitation where possible. A court should also consider the effect the sentence is likely to have on the child or young person (both positive and negative) as well as any underlying factors contributing to the offending behaviour a custodial sentence should always be a measure
What does this tell us?
Young people are committing less crime? Young people are committing crime but not being caught? Young people are committing crime and being caught but not being arrested? Young people are being dealt with outside the YJS? If so, how? - Smoke and mirrors? - Is there something missing if so then something is not being recorded?
Youth Rehabilitation Orders
Young person will be sentenced to this if a referral order does not work or young person does not engage with it For those aged under 16: Youth Rehabilitation Order s. 1 CJIA 2008 A generic order for punishment in the community comprising one or more of the following available requirements: - an activity requirement - a supervision requirement - in a case where the offender is aged 16 or 17 at the time of the conviction, an unpaid work requirement, - a programme requirement - an attendance centre requirement - a prohibited activity requirement - a curfew requirement - an exclusion requirement - a residence requirement - a local authority residence requirement (usually when they're in care or living in childrens homes their local authority will find them a place) - a mental health treatment requirement - a drug treatment requirement - a drug testing requirement - an intoxicating substance treatment requirement - an education requirement - electronic monitoring
Types of crime - seriousness
Youth crime problems seems to be getting more serious with regards to the types committed Statistics reflect behavior of CJS not necessarily how many crimes are happening Proportion of offences committed by FTEs: - Possession of weapons increased by 8% in 10 years - Drug offences increased by 6% - Violence against the person increased by 2% - Criminal damage decreased by 2% - Summary offences (e.g. Public order) decreased by 6% - Theft decreased by 16%