Young People with Anti-Social Behaviours

Practical Resources for Professionals

Kathy Hampson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781136978142
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The media today suggests that many young people are becoming involved in anti-social behaviour. But increasing amounts of legislation and ASBOs neither seem to have addressed the real issues nor solved the problem, and may simply add to the frustrations of all those involved.

Kathy Hampson's comprehensive guide is based on up-to-date, grass-roots experience of working with young people with anti-social behaviour. Including ready-to-use, photocopiable resources suitable for a wide variety of settings, it examines the background to these highly topical issues, enabling the reader to contextualise and better identify with the problems faced by the young people they work with. The easy-to-reproduce, tried-and-tested exercises:

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• are for use with individuals or groups

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• address the issues involved in offending behaviour

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• can be easily modified to cater for a range of learning styles, abilities and maturity, (and shows how you can identify which exercises suit which young people)

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• include discussion scenarios, worksheets, cartoons, card games and creative activities

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• can be used to dissuade young people from getting involved in anti-social behaviour, and to enable them to make better decisions

The book includes an appraisal of current research on the issues surrounding anti-social behaviour and, in particular, risk factors that may be involved 'behind the scenes' in young people's lives. A section on working with parents helps them to support their children, improve their parenting skills and to know where, and how, to ask for help.

This is an essential resource offering constructive, practical solutions to anti-social behaviour in young people between the ages of 10 and 18. It will be invaluable for those working professionally or voluntarily in schools, with youth groups, youth offending teams, youth inclusion projects, faith groups, anti-social behaviour teams, or for anyone whose work offers the opportunity, or requires them, to challenge anti-social and offending behaviour.

Part 1
Theory

Youth justice

The system for youth justice in England and Wales (Scotland has a different system, which will be touched on later) has constantly evolved through a number of different pieces of legislation, the latest of which is the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) were set up through the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 with the purpose of preventing offending and re-offending by young people under the age of 18 (and over 10, which is now deemed as the age at which young people can be held criminally responsible for their actions), whilst also keeping in view the welfare of young people, as detailed in the various Children Acts since 1933. The Youth Justice Board oversees the work of the individual area-based YOTs. These teams are run differently in different areas, but always incorporate staff from five different backgrounds: the police, the health service, probation, social care, and education. This multi-agency approach is designed to meet all the needs and risk factors associated with their offending, as identified by practitioners.

Previously when young people were in trouble with the police, repeated cautions were used, but this caused doubts about whether this was effective. Now, when police want to charge young people with an offence, they can issue a Reprimand as a first response (except for very serious offences). The second time a young person is arrested and charged by the police, they can offer a Final Warning (again depending on the seriousness). If the Final Warning is not accepted by the young person, then the police may proceed to a prosecution.

The next offence is always taken to court, if there is enough evidence. For young people pleading guilty, the court only has two options: to give a Referral Order, or custody. Clearly this choice depends on the seriousness of the offence and a report, called a pre-sentence report, will be prepared by the YOT in order to assess this. If the young person pleads not guilty, then the matter will be taken to trial, which cannot then result in a Referral Order, but could incur a Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO), discussed later. Young people can receive up to two Referral Orders, but a second is at the discretion of the court, which may want to impose a different order at this stage. Young people can also receive an extension of their Referral Order if they appear before the court again whilst one is already in place, but this can only happen once, and can only result in an order of a maximum of 12 months. When a young person receives a Referral Order, he or she appears before a Referral Order Panel consisting of volunteer community panel members. This panel decides what issues the young person should address during his or her order. The order can be returned to court after the halfway stage if the panel agrees to revocation for excellent progress.

When young people appear in court subsequently, the court can give them a YRO, which was brought in by the 2008 Act, replacing a number of other orders. The YRO requires young people to be risk assessed (according to their risk of re-offending, risk of causing serious harm, and risk of vulnerability) to decide what intensity of contact they should be given, and what elements should be included. These decisions are made by the court at the time of sentencing, and depend on a skilled pre-sentence report from the YOT, and also a comprehensive list of what programmes are available for use with each young person, as YOTs will vary as to what they can offer. The contact frequencies will depend on the intensity decided on at this stage (this also determines the contact frequencies of Referral Orders). Revocation of YROs can be applied for through the court at the halfway stage as a result of good progress, as long as there has been no further offending.

Young people who are sent to custody (receiving a Detention and Training Order – DTO) will normally be sent to a secure unit (or similar, such as a secure residential children’s home) if they are under the age of 15. When they reach 15, or are convicted over the age of 15, they are likely to be sent to a Young Offenders Institution (YOI), which operates more like an adult prison. Young people of school age are required to attend education while they are there, and may also access other programmes devised to reduce their risk of re-offending, although in reality, if their sentence is short, they may not have an opportunity to do so. Sentences are from four months upwards, and usually consist of a custody element and a community element. The community element begins on release, and requires contact with a YOT according to their licence agreement. During the community element, they can be recalled to custody for breaching their licence agreement.

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 allows for criminal records to be regarded as ‘spent’ after a certain period of time, depending on a variety of factors. This means that application forms requiring only unspent convictions to be declared do not need details of spent ones. Referral Orders are spent as soon as the order has been completed. However, if there was an accompanying order to pay compensation, the compensation order is not spent for two and a half years. YROs are not spent until a certain period after the end of the order, depending on its length. (It should be noted, however, that there are a number of jobs that require a full disclosure of all offences, spent and unspent, in which case all offences should be detailed. Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks will also bring up spent convictions).

Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) were introduced in England and Wales through the Crime and Disorder Act (1998) and became available for use in April 1999. ASBOs can be issued in four different ways:

1. in civil proceedings, which means the burden of proof is not as great as in criminal courts. Prosecution of ASBO breaches, however, is done in criminal courts;

2. in criminal courts on conviction of criminal offences, in addition to the main sentence (so called ‘bolt-on’ ASBOs);

3. as an interim ASBO, which can be imposed whilst evidence is being gathered for a full ASBO, but breach of which is still prosecuted in a criminal court.

4. County Court orders, which tend to be for adults.

ASBOs normally impose certain requirements, like exclusion zones where the person cannot enter, other people with whom they cannot associate, and activities in which they must not take part. They are for a minimum of two years, up to a maximum of seven years, but can be revoked in court should the subject be able to prove changes in his or her behaviour.

Other means available to deal with anti-social behaviour are:

• fixed penalty notices, which can be imposed on anyone over the age of 10, and tend to be for minor issues like littering and graffiti, and result in a fine;

• penalty notices for disorder, which tend to be for more serious behaviour, and can be imposed on anyone over the age of 16;

• Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) which are written agreements between the perpetrator and the local authority not to engage in certain problem behaviours. These run for six months, but can be renewed if both parties agree. They are not legally binding, but can be cited in ASBO applications in court.

The youth justice system in Scotland is very different. Young people are not taken to court, but are referred to Children’s Hearings, which were brought in through the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. This was to address the conflict between punishment for criminal acts and protection of children in need. It was felt that both these groups had common needs, which were not being addressed properly through the juvenile courts system. These Children’s Hearings deal with all matters, both criminal and social care-related, for young people under the age of 16 (and in some cases 18), unless it is regarding specific serious offences such as murder. The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is 8.

The system requires young people falling into these categories to be referred to the Reporter (referral paths can be wide and varied, even including the young person him or herself, but frequently the referrer is the police or social services). The Reporter then has the discretion to decide that no further action needs to be taken, that measures of support need to be put in place, or that compulsory supervision needs to be put in place, which requires them to refer to a Children’s Hearing. The Hearing is made up of trained volunteer panel members who will then decide if compulsory measures are needed and, if so, what they will be. The Hearing has access to a detailed report on the young person. If compulsory measures are agreed, the panel will make a Supervision Requirement, which stays in place until that child reaches 18, and is also subject to yearly reviews. Earlier review dates can be requested, with the young person able to request one after three months.

For further information and updates, see these websites: www.yjb.gov.uk and www.cjscotland.org.uk.

Readers can contact the author using [email protected]

Risk and protection

Youth justice in the UK is linked very strongly to a theory of risk and protection, which has seen the identification by researchers of many risk factors for young people’s entry into offending and subsequent persistence in it. There is also a set of identified protective factors that have been deemed influential in young people’s resistance to criminal activity and desistence from it, once begun. These risk and protective factors form the basis of the assessment processes that are currently undertaken for all young people entering the criminal justice system (or the Children’s Hearings system in Scotland).

The risk and protective factor theory is similar to that of the links between lung cancer and smoking. Smoking is a risk factor for smoking, but as many smokers will say, there are some people who chain smoke all their life and do not ever suffer from cancer. However, the risk factor of smoking is so strongly correlated with incidences of lung cancer that there must be some sort of causal link. Researchers have shown similar causal links between sociological risk factors and the likelihood of offending.

Researchers have looked into youth justice for many years (for example, beginning in 1953, West and Farrington conducted a longitudinal research project to identify risk factors for this with regular updates from their cohort every few years), and have identified a selection of factors that they feel are the most influential. These have been incorporated into the assessment tool used by practitioners, and identify 12 different areas of risk:

1. living arrangements

2. family and personal relationships

3. statutory education, training and employment (for those above statutory school age)

4. neighbourhood

5. lifestyle

6. substance use

7. physical health

8. emotional and mental health

9. perception of self and others

10. thinking and behaviour

11. attitudes to offending

12. motivation to change

These different areas cover a range of factors identified as significant for offending. Examples include those living in a deprived area with largely rental property, those with offending family or peers, those not attending any educational provision, those with substance use issues, those who indulge in risky behaviour, and those who have parents who have not sufficiently supervised them as younger children. There are some other significant factors that are taken into account at this stage called ‘static factors’, which include having a young age of first conviction, and having many previous offences. All of these factors increase a young person’s risk of re-offending, which is the main issue youth justice services seek to address.

The exercises in this book are aimed at affecting some of these risk factors (for example, having offending friends increases the risk of offending), and building up the protective factors. This is also the reason for a section on parenting at the end of the book – the West and Farrington study showed poor parental supervision to be one of the most influential risk factors of them all. I would suggest that to tackle the young person without any r...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1 Theory
• Part 2 INDIVIDUAL RESOURCES
• Part 3 Games
• Part 4 Group sessions
• Part 5 Working with Parents
• Bibliography