Youth Justice: The Scaled Approach is a major project that will bring about a change in practice for youth justice services.
The objectives of this project are:
Implementation
We are preparing for the Scaled Approach to be implemented alongside the Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO) in autumn 2009.
Click for information and resources that will assist YOTs prepare for the Scaled Approach and the YRO, and for our responses to some frequently asked questions.
Scaled approach to interventions
The Scaled Approach aims to ensure that interventions are tailored to the individual, based on an assessment of their risks and needs. Evidence tells us that interventions are more effective when their intensity is matched to an assessment of the likelihood of the person reoffending, and are focused on the risk factors most closely associated with their offending. The key benefits are that interventions can be better targeted and, ultimately, offending and risk of serious harm can be reduced. This new way of working will also have the benefit of allowing youth justice services to direct time and resources to young people appropriately, in accordance with their risk assessment.
To prepare for this, we piloted scaled approaches to intervention in four YOTs and took the lessons learnt to draw up a proposed model for the scaled approach which was subject to a consultation process that ended in early 2008. Click for a full summary of the consultation responses [205Kb PDF, opens in new window].
The feedback we received through this consultation process enabled us to refine our initial ideas and, in September 2008 we published a revised draft model entitled Youth Justice: The Scaled Approach – Post-consultation version.
Since the publication of that document, we have had further important feedback from our pilot YOTs in relation to certain aspects of the model and as a result of this feedback we have further refined the Scaled Approach. The changes do not represent a significant change to the concept of the Scaled Approach and the key elements of the model remain. You can read more about the experience of the pilot sites and how that learning could help you implement the Scaled Approach locally by downloading Preparing for the Scaled Approach - learning from the pilot [102Kb PDF; opens in new window].
Click to download version two of the Youth Justice: The Scaled Approach document, that was revised and published in February 2009.
As we intend for the model to be implemented in conjunction with the YRO, it will only be finalised and distributed once statutory guidance and sentencing guidelines are completed in relation to the youth justice provisions of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.
Guidance and standards
In order to achieve the aims of the project we have been developing and revising the following range of guidance for youth justice practitioners and managers to ensure a coherent and consistent approach to their work.
- Must do
National Standards for Youth Justice Services – the minimum service requirements
- What to do
Key Elements of Effective Practice – evidence-based guidance on planning and delivering interventions
- How to
New case management guidance – guidance on managing a case from the earliest point of contact to the end of an order
The latest Key Elements of Effective Practice and their accompanying source documents were published in July 2008.
Drafts of National Standards for Youth Justice Services and case management guidance were subject to consultation alongside the Scaled Approach model and are now being completed to take into account the feedback received in the consultation exercise.
They will also include guidance and standards in relation to the youth justice provisions of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. They will be published in 2009, before the youth rehabilitation order comes into effect.