Children's Commissioner calls for action on young re-offenders
The NI Children's Commissioner has called for progress to be made on cutting down on re-offending figures among young people.
It comes after a report from the NI Audit Office, 'Managing Children Who Re-offend', said that the Department of Justice and Youth Justice Agency had not shown they were providing value for money, and said there is a need for a specific strategy around interventions.
“I welcome the NIAO report and in particular the call for a specific strategy to address offending and reoffending through policy, services and interventions," said Koulla Yiasoumma.
“Children who offend, more often than not, have not had a fair start in life.
"They remain among the most vulnerable children, many of whom have experienced multiple adversities and challenges in life ranging from poverty, family breakdown, legacy impact of the conflict, mental health problems and/or drug and alcohol issues.
“The NIAO report clearly shows that the current system’s interventions and services are not effectively tackling offending and re-offending and is not therefore delivering for these children and young people."
The report also showed that youth conferencing, which saw the rate of re-offence drop in 2007-08 to 1 in 5, returned much worse figures in 2013-14 with more than 1 in 2.
In 2011, the Youth Justice Review made several recommendations which Ms Yiasoumma said had not yet been implemented, despite being raised again in a scoping study last year.
The Comptroller and Auditor General Kieran Donnelly said, “The number of offences committed by young people has been reducing in recent years.
"However, more than one in four young offenders will go on to reoffend within one year.
"Repeat offenders account for a disproportionately high percentage all incidents, representing over 70 per cent of all youth crime and disorder."
"There is a need for a specific strategy to guide the Executive in terms of youth justice policy and interventions and to help co-ordinate the delivery of youth justice services.”
He also went on to say that more needed to be done to cost out exactly what was being done around youth justice.
“Assessing the cost effectiveness of interventions used to address offending behaviour is the foundation for delivering value for money.," he said.
"The Department and the Youth Justice Agency lack the capacity to identify and apportion costs to the full range of interventions.
"Consequently, they cannot adequately assess their cost-effectiveness and cannot currently demonstrate that the interventions to reduce reoffending by young people represent value for money."