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Early Help and
Preventative Services
Youth Justice data for Maidstone District
2018/19
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Document Owner |
M Powell |
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0.1 |
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Approval Date |
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Issue Date |
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Review Date |
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Performance Data for Kent
The number of young people receiving either Court disposals in Kent has decreased since the introduction of a Police and Youth Justice initiative to focus on preventative work. In 2016 the Early Help Service committed to assessing and offering support to all young people who are eligible for an Out of Court disposal. This has had an impact on the numbers of young people entering the criminal justice system, and the numbers being dealt with by the Courts.
First Time Entrants into the Criminal Justice System
Court and Custodial Disposals
In the year 2018/19 There were 439 Court disposals and 445 Out of Court disposals. Both figures are a reduction when compared to the previous year when there were 531 Court disposals and 511 Out of Court disposals for young people.
The service monitors reoffending rates using data from the Ministry of Justice. The Kent performance is better than the average for England and Wales, and better than most geographical neighbours.
Reoffending Data – taken from Ministry of Justice published data
Data for Maidstone District
April 2018 – March 2019. Age and Gender
|
Age @ Outcome |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
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Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
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Age 10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Age 11 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Age 12 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
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Age 13 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
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Age 14 |
3 |
13 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
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Age 15 |
3 |
14 |
6 |
14 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
14 |
2 |
6 |
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Age 16 |
5 |
13 |
4 |
15 |
3 |
17 |
1 |
7 |
0 |
8 |
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Age 17 + |
7 |
32 |
1 |
31 |
3 |
19 |
2 |
14 |
1 |
12 |
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Gender Total |
22 |
78 |
15 |
78 |
10 |
49 |
5 |
46 |
4 |
31 |
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Grand Total |
100 |
93 |
59 |
51 |
35 |
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Offences by Type – Maidstone – Young People aged 10 - 17
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Offences by Type |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
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Arson |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Breach of Bail |
7 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
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Breach of Conditional Discharge |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Breach of Statutory Order |
14 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
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Criminal Damage |
20 |
19 |
21 |
4 |
10 |
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Domestic Burglary |
13 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
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Drugs |
18 |
19 |
9 |
22 |
7 |
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Fraud and Forgery |
0 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
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Motoring Offences |
16 |
24 |
12 |
8 |
15 |
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Non Domestic Burglary |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
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Other |
5 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
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Public Order |
12 |
10 |
11 |
3 |
15 |
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Racially Aggravated |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
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Robbery |
9 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
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Sexual Offences |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
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Theft and handling |
45 |
39 |
6 |
6 |
9 |
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Vehicle Theft |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
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Violence against the person |
46 |
39 |
56 |
34 |
30 |
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TOTAL |
217 |
184 |
132 |
97 |
110 |
Knife crime in Kent
The national picture shows an upward trajectory from 2013/14, this is not emulated in Kent. There were 145 knife crime offences across the County in 2016, 127 in 2017, 107 in 2018 and 5 between January and March in 2019 that resulted in a substantive outcome between 1st January 2016 to 31st March 2019.
The numbers of actual young people responsible for these offences were 121 in 2016, 111 in 2017, 84 in 2018 and 5 between January and March 2019 . On average this equates to 1.2 offences per young person for each given year.
The number of knife crime offences peaked in May 2016 (with 23 offences). They are yet to return to these levels.
A further analysis of youth knife crime will be carried out in October 2019. Below is a geographical summary of the locations of youth knife crime offences where there has been a substantive outcome (Out of Court or Court disposal).
What Works in Tackling Youth Crime
The College of Policing published an evidence briefing in April 2019 which identified the following approaches as having the greatest potential:
· Well-implemented problem-solving and focused deterrence strategies can have a positive impact on reducing violence.18 These strategies target prolific or repeat offenders, combining improved access to support with strict enforcement
· Restorative Justice
· Early Intervention. IN particular
o child skills training – teaching social and emotional skills, problem solving and anger management
o behavioural parent training – supporting parents to reinforce good behaviour
o mentoring – with an emphasis on emotional support and role modelling
o after school recreational activities – teaching skills in a structured and supervised environment
Desistance Theory
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation have identified Desistance approaches as having the most impact on the likelihood of offending or further offending. They have stated that:
‘The strongest existing ‘what works’ research to date has established with reasonable replication the effectiveness of programmes described as cognitive behavioural, targeted to individuals with higher risk scores, that teach skills such as emotional regulation and perspective taking…
…The best known findings in this regard suggest that people are more likely to desist when they have strong ties to family and community, employment that fulfils them, recognition of their worth from others, feelings of hope and self-efficacy, and a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives’ (Reconciling Desistance and What Works. 2019)
This definition offers an ability to understand what support should be focussing on when working with young people in the criminal justice system
NACRO and Beyond Youth Custody
In 2018 NACRO published ‘Beyond Youth Custody’ which used research to identify what was most effective in supporting young people who are leaving custody. It identified a number of critical factors that are required if young people are to succeed. These centre around helping the young person see their identity in a positive manner, and ensuring that others see the young person positively also, as well as building a support network around the young person.
Kent Youth Justice have worked with the author of the report, Neal Hazel, and an infographic of the paper’s findings is below.
