Predicting Offending

YISP:

Children aged 8-13 may be referred to the ‘Youth Inclusion and Support Panel’ (YISP) if they are thought to be potential offenders, in which case an assessment is made using an in-depth tool called ‘ONSET’ and the child will be referred to a 'diversionary' scheme. Data about them is held on the Youth Inclusion and Support Panel Management Information System (YISPMIS).

YIP:

Another scheme run by each YOT is the ‘Youth Inclusion Programme’ and ‘Junior Youth Inclusion Programme’ (YIP and Junior YIP)

In each area, YIPs target the 50 young people aged 13-16 thought most 'at risk' of offending, truancy or social exclusion; Junior YIPs target those aged 8-12.

The target group is identified via a process called ‘ID50’ which involves referrals from local agencies, or uses other information. ID50 Guidance from the YJB says:

"there are clearly young people that are at risk but are not known by local agencies: the YIP must endeavour to access these young people. We believe that there is a considerable amount of local intelligence with regard to these young people – the YIP should assume the role of an identifying agency by collating information about these young people from local contacts, residents, tenancy associations, community groups, street wardens, etc."

Data about children involved in YIPs/Junior YIPs is held on the Youth Inclusion Programme Management Information System (YIPMIS). ONSET is not currently used on ‘YIP’ children, but the YJB believes it could be helpful to begin using it.

CDRP:

In addition to YOTs, each area also has a ‘Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership’ (CDRP), a Home Office initiative that consists of the same type of bodies as the YOT, plus voluntary sector and community representatives. There is overlap in the work that CDRPs and YOTs cover; children identified under one scheme may be provided for under another.

The CDRP is responsible for delivering a Home Office-designed scheme called ‘Prolific and Other Priority Offenders’ (PPO) which is divided into 3 tiers. The first tier of this scheme is called ‘Prevent and Deter’ and, as the name suggests, focuses on those thought to show signs of being predisposed towards offending. Data is held on the local PPO Performance Management System.

OTHER SCHEMES:

There are several other ‘diversionary’ schemes run by different combinations of agencies and voluntary sector providers – again, with considerable overlap. To give some examples:

‘ON TRACK’ was established by the Home Office in 1999 and then taken over by the Children’s Fund. It is aimed at 4 to 12-year-olds and their families in areas of high deprivation and crime.

‘POSITIVE FUTURES’ is another Home Office initiative, started by the Drug Strategy Directorate in partnership with Sport England and the YJB, but its management has just been handed over to the voluntary sector provider, ‘Crime Concern’. It is aimed at those aged 10-19, especially those living in deprived neighbourhoods.

‘POSITIVE ACTIVITIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’ is for 8-19-year-olds who are identified as being ‘at risk’ of social exclusion or committing crime, or who are ‘disengaged’ from education.

The identification of children for the various schemes inevitably involves the sharing of information. The powers most usually relied upon to do this are general ones contained in:

· Section 2 of the Local Government Act 2000, which gives each local authority the power to do anything that promotes the economic, social and environmental well-being of their area.

· Section 37 of the Crime And Disorder Act 1998 which places a duty on “all persons and bodies carrying out functions in relation to the youth justice system” to have regard to the aim of preventing offending by children and young people.


RYOGENS

RYOGENS was developed as one project in a portfolio of e-government national projects. The name is an acronym for Reducing Youth Offending Generic National Solution, although this full title is no longer used, and it is being positioned as having wider use in the whole ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda.

RYOGENS is a web-based predictive and information-sharing system that local authorities can buy into, offering a checklist of concerns  to be used in order to reach a decision that a child is ‘at risk’ of offending.
 

Until very recently, the website also provided a drop-down list of legal reasons that practitioners could use to override refusal of consent to share information; however, this seems to have disappeared from the site. Access to the most recently archived version can be accessed via ARCH’s ‘database masterclass’.

The local authority using the RYOGENS system decides how many ‘concerns’ from the checklist should be entered on the system before an alert is triggered. At this point an assessment is made and the child is referred to relevant services.

A child of any age can be recorded on the RYOGENS system. According to an evaluation (again, accessible via ‘database masterclass’ the youngest was 9 months old, although the report acknowledges that in this case the power ‘appears to have been used incorrectly’.

RYOGENS Reason for Concern

top of page                                                                                                          back  |  next