Neal Hazel

U SIR is a digi t al collec tion of t h e r e s e a r c h ou t p u t of t h e U nive r si ty of S alford. Whe r e copyrigh t p e r mi t s, full t ex t m a t e ri al h eld in t h e r e posi to ry is m a d e fre ely availabl e online a n d c a n b e r e a d , dow nloa d e d a n d copied for no nco m m e rcial p riva t e s t u dy o r r e s e a r c h p u r pos e s . Ple a s e c h e ck t h e m a n u sc rip t for a ny fu r t h e r copyrig h t r e s t ric tions.

Disengagement and poor educational attainment in education are firmly established risk factors for juvenile crime, leading policymakers to identify educational provision in and after custody as a key pathway for effective reentry (resettlement). However, although there is emerging evidence that children’s educational progress can reduce recidivism, persistent issues have dogged the delivery of education in custody across the Western world. We identify these issues as rooted in fundamental weaknesses of the risk paradigm that defines the relationship between custodial education and juvenile justice outcomes, in particular reflecting the absence of a cogent theory of change. We propose an alternative ‘Child First’ conceptual framework for custodial education that draws on the ‘Positive Youth Justice’ approach in contemporary youth justice and adopts the development of children’s pro-social identity as its theory of change and key purpose. We explore for the first-time what overarching...

This report summarises the main findings from a new study of the experiences of young offenders caught up in the youth justice system. The project was split into two parts: (i) a literature review; and (ii) a qualitative empirical study consisting of interviews with 37 young offenders from four separate Youth Offending Teams (YOTs), interviews with their youth justice professionals and examination of their case files.

Recidivism rates for children leaving custody in England and Wales have remained stubbornly high, despite intense policy interest and some promising short-term initiatives. In this chapter, it is argued that the major challenge to improved outcomes has been the widespread failure of service providers to adopt lessons from research. This failure, we maintain, has been due to the lack of a conceptual understanding of how resettlement intervention effects positive change in children, leading to confusion as to service aims and what good practice looks like. Based on the existing knowledge base, from a 6-year study entitled, Beyond Youth Custody, it was concluded that effective resettlement should be reconceptualized as personal and practical support, that facilitates a shift in the child’s personal narrative from pro-criminal to pro-social. Five characteristics for practice necessary to promote this shift are identified, which are compared to the Taxonomy for Transition Programming 2.0.

In response to policy concerns in England and Wales and internationally, a considerable knowledge base has identified factors statistically associated with reduced recidivism for children leaving custodial institutions. However, despite resulting guidance on how to support resettlement (‘reentry’), practice and outcomes remain disappointing. We argue that this failure reflects weaknesses in the dominant ‘risk paradigm’, which lacks a theory of change and undermines children’s agency. We conceptualise resettlement as a pro-social identity shift. A new practice model reinterprets existing risk-based messages accordingly, and crucially adds principles to guide a child’s desistance journey. However, successful implementation may require the model to inform culture change more broadly across youth justice.

During the last two centuries England and Wales have developed what is now referred to as the ‘secure estate for juveniles’: various institutions providing custody for young offenders. Overall (macro) patterns of use of custody have been shown to relate to ideological swings in policy throughout this period. However, alongside this broader policy context, each institution has its own history of development (micro). This article identifies common themes in the rise and fall of custodial institutions. It concludes that focusing solely on macro analysis underestimates the complexities of developing a custodial institution, and disguises lessons from the past.

This article explores the interactions between researchers and potential respondents when recruiting for a door-to-door survey. Researchers’ reflective accounts suggest a range of tactics used to influence potential participation in research that draws upon contrasting identities and roles for researchers and participants. In examining these roles, the paper demonstrates the ways in which, while fleeting, the interactions between researcher and

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported this project as part of its programme of research and innovative development projects, which it hopes will be of value to policy makers and practitioners. The facts presented and views expressed in this report are, however, those ...

RDS is part of the Home Office. The Home Office's purpose is to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced and the protection and security of the public are maintained.

This report identifies a gap in knowledge about the way young people experience the transition from custody back into the community (reentry). The early days to weeks following release can be an overwhelmingly stressful experience for young people, while some navigate this period relatively smoothly, the dominant theme is that young people find it hard to cope and feel disorientated when adjusting to life in the community. This relates to adjustments to the sudden change in environment and life regime, and the renegotiation of relationships. The report identifies recommendations for practitioners and policy makers to ease the transition process in order to allow for longer-term success in resettlement (reentry).

This report addresses a worrying gap in the knowledge about the effective resettlement of girls and young women. Reviewing research literature in a number of relevant areas, it cross-references evidence of what works in the resettlement of young people with what we know about the wider need of girls and young women. This iterative synthesis approach thus provides a gender-sensitive approach to inform policy and practice development in resettlement for this specific group.

This brief report summarises the lessons learnt from evaluations of full range of resettlement (reentry) disposals and initiatives over a decade. It translates them into recommendations for policy and practice in the organisation and delivery of resettlement support.

This timeline sets out a brief history of youth justice in England and Wales from the first attempts to separate young offenders from adults in the criminal justice system a little over 220 years ago.  Although not intentionally focused on custodial provision, many of the significant events concern attempts to reform, replace or divert children from various types of institutions.  The recognition of a need for resettlement (reentry) support after custody is also a recurring theme - from the embryonic youth justice system to the present day.

This literature review aims to set out the research and practice evidence about effective resettlement (reentry) services for children and young adults and can be used to inform future policy and practice to ensure service delivery is evidence based. The findings of the review will help to steer the focus of Beyond Youth Custody’s research over the duration of the programme and act as a baseline to assess how our understanding has advanced in terms of what works in facilitating the transition from youth custody to the community and beyond. In addition, the review highlights some examples of good practice, as well as the emerging key principles of effective resettlement provision.
This literature review presents the findings of an analysis of research and practice literature about resettlement services for young people when they leave custody. It will act as a baseline to assess how the Youth in Focus delivery projects have advanced our knowledge of what works within youth resettlement following custody.
The review also highlights some emerging principles of effective practice that will be useful for practitioners, policymakers and commissioners to ensure resettlement services are designed and delivered in a way which meets the needs of young people and consequently which reduces reoffending.
The headline findings of the literature review are:
Custodial sentences have the highest reconviction rates, but more effective and better coordinated resettlement provision and planning can significantly reduce offending and public costs.
The reduction of numbers in custody has brought additional challenges in relation to resettling these remaining young people.
The transition from custody to community is an opportunity for positive change for young people, but is impeded by system failures in joint working between community stakeholders and the institution.
Key principles to inform effective practice include: ensuring continuity between custody and community; adequate preparation for release; ensuring support immediately on release; proactive engagement and collaboration with the young person; and a focus on co-ordinating partnerships of stakeholders across sectors.
Priority issues for further exploration include: continuity across the transition to adulthood; sustained engagement to and beyond the end of the licence; ensuring support without increasing licence requirements; meeting diversity in the custodial population; managing an exit from support; extending resettlement provision to the remand population; and critical consideration of alternative aims and measures for long-term resettlement success.

The resettlement consortia evaluation reports outline the latest evidence of effective resettlement (reentry) models. They describe the benefits of resettlement consortia including the most effective ways to establish and sustain consortia arrangements for resettlement. The reports are aimed at youth justice and wider public sector commissioners as well as policy makers and youth justice sector practitioners. The Ministry of Justice, UK is promoting the consortia model described in the evaluation reports as an effective model of resettlement practice.

This article explores the interactions between researchers and potential respondents when recruiting for a door-to-door survey. Researchers’ reflective accounts suggest a range of tactics used to influence potential participation in research that draws upon contrasting identities and roles for researchers and participants. In examining these roles, the paper demonstrates the ways in which, while fleeting, the interactions between researcher and respondents involve impression management strategies and are entangled in negotiations of power and status. In reflecting on some of the practices behind door-step recruiting in survey research, we show how gaining consent to participate is about negotiating researcher and respondent roles. In doing so, we hope to encourage debate about the importance of identity, the ethics of consent and issues of reflexivity in survey-based research.

Reoffending rates for young offenders released from custody are high. Of approximately 6000 young people sentenced to custody each year, between 70% and 90% will reoffend within 12 months. Effective resettlement (reentry) is vital to achieving better outcomes. RESET was a major experimental project led by Catch 22 and funded by European Equal, designed to improve outcomes. This executive briefing summarises the findings from the evaluation of RESET by CSR-Salford and ARCS UK. It explores lessons for mainstream resettlement support, making key recommendations about: coordinating resources and staff, making local partnerships, preparing young people for release, and communication and information flow between custody and community. It concludes that successful resettlement crucially requires: (1) widespread partnership coordination to address offenders' multiple needs; and (2) effective cooperation between custodial institutions and community agencies to ensure preparedness for release.

A scoping review of youth justice systems.  The report focuses on:
􀂃 overall approaches taken by systems (including aims, philosophies, pressures and trends)
􀂃 structures and procedures for the administration of youth justice (including relevant agencies, judicial processes, diversionary practices)
􀂃 interventions (including differences within each intervention, custodial provision, aftercare).

The report includes an examination of differing incarceration rates.

Although provision of holidays for families in need has been mainstreamed within the social care policies of many countries in the rest of Europe, ‘social tourism’ has yet to be adopted in the United Kingdom. This article reports on a scoping study of research and policy in this area. While there is limited robust research on the impact of holidays, emerging evidence supports a range of claims for benefits to children and families. The article concludes that both political emphasis on social inclusion and pan-European initiatives on ‘Tourism For All’ currently provide an opportunity for the provision of holidays for families in need to be placed firmly on the social care agenda.

This presentation considers draws from a number of research projects over a 15 year period to synthesis what young people say about their experiences of custody. Particular attention is paid to qualitative research featuring what children say about their time in police custody. Recurring themes include confusion over their rights, anxiety and coping mechanisms, negative support and vulnerability to adult-child power relations.

Effective resettlement of juvenile offenders following a custodial sentence is recognised as a key issue in youth justice within and beyond England and Wales.  Having the highest recidivism rates of any judicial punishment, combined with the speed of reoffending after release, has ensured that resettlement is a high political priority.  Moreover, previous research has shown that system failures undermine effective resettlement; including not passing information from custody to community agencies and problems in ensuring facilities are set-up in time for the child's release. 

RESET was a major project established with European Equal funding to explore ways to improve resettlement though models of support.  The project was a partnership of more than 50 national and local agencies.  This paper presents findings from the evaluation of RESET, including discussions of lessons for (and beyond) wider resettlement policy and practice.  Conclusions and recommendations focus on issues of agency partnership, engagement and coordination to ensure comprehensive support for young people after custody.

Juvenile offenders have a disproportionate amount of health problems compared to non-offenders (Wilson and Tully 2009; Healthcare Commission and HMIP 2009), including high rates of mental health (Chitsabesan et al 2006) and substance misuse (Goldson 2000) needs. Consequently, the last decade has seen a plethora of initiatives from both health and justice authorities in England and beyond attempting to improve services and outcomes for this group. Nevertheless, juvenile offenders have remained relatively been poorly served by health services, with access and engagement problems both in the community and custody widely reported (e.g. Department of Health 2009; Healthcare Commission and HMIP 2009). Despite this negative picture, however, Inspectorate reports have consistently highlighted isolated examples of promising practice that could inform wider provision.

This paper explores examples of promising and innovative practice for mental health and substance misuse service provision for those in the juvenile justice system within and beyond England. Findings are drawn from a review of practice undertaken in spring 2010 with the cooperation of the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice. Data were gathered through a scoping review (including a study of Inspectorate reports), and a survey of practitioners.
Areas of innovative practice addressed in the paper include coordination of resources and collaboration between health and justice services; assessment and referral; engaging youth; diversion from court; staff training and culture; health education; and help when leaving custody. The paper concludes with a synthesis of key features to promote good practice in health provision in the juvenile justice