Riots Communities and Victims Panel Final Report

Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill Excerpts

Monday 28th May 2012 Grand Committee

[Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill]

My Lords, I, too, thank my noble friend Lady Sherlock for giving us the opportunity to discuss this important report and congratulate her and the other panel members on producing a significant piece of work. I urge the Government to give serious consideration to the recommendations even in a climate of austerity and recession.

Other noble Lords have already spoken of the need to create jobs and hope for young people, and I will speak on the importance of rehabilitation. I was shocked to see that rioters brought before the courts had on average 11 previous convictions, so the question of rehabilitation needs to be urgently addressed. The report recommends that youth offending teams adopt triage approaches whereby public services come together to undertake a thorough assessment of a first-time offender’s behaviour and the reasons that lie behind it.

Though prison provides punishment, I am concerned that the level of reconviction rates for young adults discharged from custody are higher than for those given community sentences and strongly support the panel’s recommendation that some of the resources currently spent on custody could be redirected into community sentencing. Short prison sentences give little opportunity for interventions that could encourage rehabilitation, such as help with employment and drug and alcohol addiction. The panel’s call for probation trusts to develop intensive alternatives to custody schemes for young adults should be taken up. Evidence given to the panel showed that prison for young adults can be disruptive to housing status, employment and personal relationships making them more vulnerable to reoffending by losing their tentative stake in society.

However, where young offenders are imprisoned they should not be released back into the community without what the panel describes as “wraparound” support packages of help with finding housing, employment and health advice. The recommendation that probation, prisons and voluntary and community sector partners work together with the aim of ensuring that every young adult is offered a mentor to support them on release must also be worth exploring.

After the Riots also examined the way young adults move between the two systems of youth and adult justice. For 18 year-olds, the sudden difference between treatment by the Youth Justice Board and with adult offender status can have a negative impact. Both young offenders and probation teams questioned by the panel thought that transitions,

“could and should be handled better”.

Will the Government consider putting 18 to 21 year- olds under the Youth Justice Board jurisdiction rather than the instant transfer at 18? The report has found that young adults are a distinct group with a different set of needs from older adult offenders. The offender assessment system operated by probation officers to check the likelihood of reoffending found that the most common needs of offenders aged 18 to 20 are education, training and employment. The Government should act on the recommendations in this report to help make our communities safer.