There is a conflict between current legislation and government policy on youth crime and the welfare approach promoted by section 44 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. Discuss this view, with reference to the role of Social Workers on the Youth J

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There is a conflict between current legislation and government policy on youth crime and the welfare approach promoted by section 44 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. Discuss this view, with reference to the role of Social Workers on the Youth Justice System today.

In this assignment I will firstly give an overview of the Youth Justice System, the changes that have taken effect and the changing legislation which have led to changes in practice.  I will discuss the rights of the child, while considering Welfare versus punishments.  I will also explain the role of the Youth Offending Team. Finally I will discuss changes, and what impact these have or had not had on the current Youth Justice System.

The Youth Justice System is the Laws and services which deal with children aged between ten and eighteen years old who have been accused or convicted of crime and who are offenders. The youth justice system has six key objectives; Swift Administration of justice, confronting young people with the consequences that their offending has had on the victims, providing interventions, ensuring punishment is fair and measured against the seriousness of the offence,  encouraging offenders to make reparation to victims, and reinforcing the responsibilities of parents (www.yjb.gov.uk). The youth Justice System in England is made up of the Youth Justice Board, Youth Offending Teams, Police and Crown Prosecution Service, and the Courts.   The Youth Justice Board (YJB) is was created out of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and overseas the Youth Justice System for England and Wales and works to prevent offending re-offending of children and makes sure that custody is safe, it also addresses reasons for their offending behaviour, it reports to the Home Secretary.

The Government paper Every Child Matters: Change for Children in the Criminal Justice System reshaped thinking around Youth Offending and came from a more welfare based approach. It has five main outcomes for children: -

  • Be healthy
  • Stay Safe
  • Enjoy and Achieve
  • Make a Positive Contribution
  • Achieve Economic Wellbeing.

(ECM – 1)

The paper stated that the statutory aim of the Youth justice system was to prevent offending, rather than punishment and it put a high emphasis on safeguarding children.  The paper took on board some of the environmental factors which contribute to the reasons why children turn to crime.

Restorative Justice has been a strong influence in the changes to legislation and the work of the youth justice system.  Restorative justice came about by the Government white paper “No More Excuses” and follows a principle of the three R’s; Responsibility, Restoration and Reintegration.  One of the vital areas is to get offenders to engage with services and to come to terms with what they have done and

face the victims of their crimes to try ad get offenders to appreciate the impact of their crimes (Workbook 3, pg.47).  However the Restorative Justice approach is much more about punishment than welfare, and does not touch on the reasons why a young person may have committed a crime.  

Since 2007 the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCHF) has been interpreted as heralding a more child centred approach to young offending (K269 – Update Supplement pg.36). Every Child Matters and Aiming High for young people has made changes to the way young offenders are being dealt with taking on board a more welfare based approach while trying to work on tackling the reasons for offending rather than just punishing the offence.  Always as a direct conflict for policy makers is the publics wish for Governments to be seen to be tacking youth crime and anti-social behaviour harshly with much of public feeling that the law is too lenient. There has always been conflict between the welfare Model and the justice model, which holds a more “get tough” approach.  More recently governments have tried to change their approach to Youth Offending in trying to target youth crime in a more proactive way, rather than punishing all crimes equally.  Schedule 2 of the Children Act 1989 placed a duty on local authorities to take reasonable steps to reduce the need to bring criminal proceedings against children and to instead concentrate on more preventative work (Workbook 3, pg. 40).  In the recent Youth Crime Action Plan 2008, it states that prevention will be tackled by addressing he root causes of crime. A key change has been replacing cautions with a system of reprimands and warnings.  New punishments for young offenders like Individual Support Orders (ISO) and the Youth Justice Boards Youth inclusion Programme seeks to reduce offending by funding schemes in more disadvantaged neighbourhoods where children are at most risk of offending. Overall the new plans and approaches hoped to see an end to continued offending and for custodial sentences given to young offenders for less serious crimes.  The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 introduces the Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO) which could be given and carry a degree of monitoring, and also place an offender with foster carers, a lesser sentence than being placed in custody (K269 Update Supplement, pg.44).  A DTO (Detention and Training Order could be given to a young offender but only when they have committed the most serious of crimes or if the child is a persistent offender (Workbook 3, pg.71).

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Youth Offending Teams (YOT’s) were set up by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and have been seen as a positive move in working with young offenders, their role is to co-ordinate the provision of youth justice services in their local authority areas (www.yjb.gov.uk).  YOT’s are made up of Police, Probation Officers, Social Workers, Health and Education Services and other specialist workers all working together in partnership delivering Youth Justice Services.  The role of a YOT team is to complete assessments when a young person has offended using the assessment frame work called ASSET (Workbook 3, pg.64).  The assessment ...

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