Title: CHILDREN FIRST, OFFENDERS SECOND An aspiration or a reality for youth justice in Wales Name: Susan Thomas This is a digitised version of a dissertation submitted to the University of Bedfordshire. It is available to view only. This item is subject to copyright. CHILDREN FIRST, OFFENDERS SECOND An aspiration or a reality for youth justice in Wales Sue Thomas Professional Doctorate in Leadership in Children and Young People’s Services 2015 UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE CHILDREN FIRST, OFFENDERS SECOND An aspiration or a reality for youth justice in Wales Susan Brace Thomas ABSTRACT England and Wales have the same criminal justice system, but devolution in Wales has created some differences between the two countries. In Wales all child and young person related services, with the exception of youth justice, are devolved to the Welsh Government. It is claimed by some that devolution has resulted in youth justice policy in Wales diverging from that of England. This is because of the Welsh Government’s adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been incorporated into its domestic legislation. This is not mirrored in England, as the UK Government’s youth justice policies during the New Labour period have been characterised as punitive, risk-led and managerialist. Although attitudes and approaches changed during the Coalition Government’s administration, the fundamental features of the system have not. Youth justice in Wales has been described as taking a ‘children first, offenders second’ approach to children and young people in trouble with the law, which by inference suggests the opposite for youth justice in England. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a different youth justice in Wales. This was done by scrutinising a range of evidence that included the policies of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales and the Welsh Government and the interface and relationship between them, to determine what youth justice in Wales looks like and how it compares to youth justice in England. This was supported by an analysis of YJB data about the operation of the system, which disaggregated information about Wales from national statistics, to establish if outcomes for young people in Wales differed from their counter-parts in England. Finally, the perspectives of practitioners in two youth offending teams in England and two in Wales were explored to establish what their practice cultures looked like and the extent to which practitioners had similar or different views about how the system should and does operate, whether a ‘children first’ philosophy is dominant in Wales and how this relates to the policy positions of the respective governments. ii Table of contents Abstract .................................................................................................. ii List of appendices .................................................................................. vii List of charts ........................................................................................... viii List of tables ............................................................................................ x Acknowledgements ................................................................................ xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background .............................................................................. 1 1.2 Rationale ................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research aims ............................................................................ 4 1.4 Structure of thesis ....................................................................... 5 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 8 2.1 Comparative youth justice .......................................................... 8 2.2 The availability of literature on youth justice in Wales ................. 9 2.3 UK Government – New Labour .................................................. 10 2.4 UK Government – Coalition Government .................................... 13 Freedoms and flexibilities 2.5 Contrasting the UK governments positions ................................. 17 2.6 The Welsh Government – devolution and a different direction ..................................................................................... 18 Children’s Rights Extending Entitlement 2.7 Comparing the UK Government and Welsh Government positions ………………………………………………………... 21 2.8 The All Wales Youth Offending Strategy ..................................... 23 2.9 Welsh Youth Justice – ‘dragonisation’ ....................................... 25 2.10 The practice landscape in England and in Wales ........................ 26 Swansea YOT 2.11 The next stage …………………………………………………. 31 iii CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 34 3.1 Determining the approach ......................................................... 34 3.2 Literature search ........................................................................ 35 Government statistical information 3.3 The YOT sample ........................................................................ 37 3.4 Participant sample ...................................................................... 39 3.5 Ethics… ...................................................................................... 40 3.6 Research tools ............................................................................ 41 Surveys Interview schedule 3.7 Data analysis .............................................................................. 44 3.8 Surveys returned and interviews obtained .................................. 44 3.9 Limitations ................................................................................. 45 CHAPTER FOUR: THE WALES AND WESTMINSTER INTERFACE 47 4.1 Context ......................................................................................... 47 4.2 Taking Wales into account ........................................................... 48 4.3 The YJB and Welsh Government relationship .............................. 49 4.4 The YJB’s role in Wales ................................................................ 51 YJB activities 4.5 Welsh Government policy developments ..................................... 54 4.6 Youth justice legislation in Wales .................................................. 55 4.7 The devolution of youth justice .................................................... 58 4.8 Co-existence ................................................................................ 60 CHAPTER FIVE: PARALLEL AND EQUIVALENT YOUTH JUSTICE IN WALES 62 5.1 Statutory functions and funding ................................................. 62 5.2 Comparable services .................................................................. 65 5.3 Rurality ...................................................................................... 69 5.4 Re-offending .............................................................................. 69 5.5 A similar landscape .................................................................... 71 iv CHAPTER SIX: PRACTICE CULTURES IN YOTS 72 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................... 72 6.2 The ranking exercise .................................................................. 72 Differences within teams The comparative picture 6.3 Youth offending team culture ...................................................... 76 England A Wales A England B Wales B 6.4 Summary of influences on practice ………………………….. 88 6.5 Influence of the All Wales Youth Offending Strategy ................... 92 The influence of the YOT manager CHAPTER SEVEN: TARGETED PREVENTION 99 7.1 Introduction ............................................................................... 99 7.2 Prevention and early intervention................................................ 99 7.3 UK government policy shift – 2008 onwards .............................. 102 7.4 The Welsh Government’s position ............................................. 103 7.5 The efficacy of prevention ........................................................... 104 7.6 Anti-social behaviour…. .............................................................. 106 7.7 Targeted prevention services – findings from the fieldwork …. ................................................................................... 109 Targeted prevention and preventing criminalisation The role of Children’s Services in prevention Other preventative activity The effectiveness of prevention as a service Addressing needs and linking to other services The role of the practitioner as a broker/advocate CHAPTER EIGHT: PRE-COURT DIVERSION 122 8.1 Introduction ................................................................................. 122 8.2 Pre-court diversion ..................................................................... 122 8.3 The first time entrant target ......................................................... 123 v 8.4 The impact of pre-court diversion................................................ 124 Triage Wales and the Bureau 8.5 The four YOTs in the study…. .................................................... 133 Punishment for criminal acts Prioritising informal diversion 8.6 Reductions in first time entrants .................................................. 136 8.7 Impact on caseloads .................................................................. 140 8.8 Consensus on pre-court diversion .............................................. 142 CHAPTER NINE: THE USE OF