Mental health: Youth justice
We are working with the Department of Health and the Centre for Mental Health to develop a new Youth Justice Hub. This is designed to support pathfinders and others developing Youth Justice Liaison and Development (YJLD) schemes and includes information about the YJLD programme and a practical toolkit to guide YJLD work.
As the hub develops we’ll bring together all the youth justice resources into one place. For now, you can browse a list of Youth Justice resources below. Or also see the key topic on criminal justice system in the Learning Disabilities & CAMHS hub. Or view the Youth Justice Hub.
Healthcare standards for children and young people in secure settings
These standards are designed to help plan, deliver and quality assure the provision of children and young people’s health services in secure settings. The new standards take a pathway approach, following the young person ...
Publisher: Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH)
Published Date: 2013
Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing: report
The Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing was set up in September 2012 to look into how the police deal with incidents involving people with mental health problems. The Commission considered 55 cases where ...
Publisher: Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing
Published Date: 2013
Keeping out of trouble
Children and young people were asked for their views and experience about what can keep a child or young person from getting into trouble with the law. Both children and young people who had been in trouble with the law ...
Publisher: Ofsted
Published Date: 2013
Repairing shattered lives: brain injury and its implications for criminal justice
This report is about the impact that acquired brain injuries can have on young people in childhood and in their transition to adulthood. It also outlines the criminal justice consequences if these injuries go untreated.
Publisher: Transition to Adulthood (T2A)
Published Date: 2012
Listening to young women in police custody: mental health needs and the police response
This book is based on original research and explores the extent to which the mental health needs of young women are identified and met whilst in and after leaving police custody. The research identifies the need for grea ...
Publisher: Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS)
Published Date: 2012
"Why are they going to listen to me?" Young people's perspectives on the complaints system in the youth justice system and secure estate
This report outlines views on the complaints process in the youth justice system, from the perspectives and capturing the experiences of children in that system. It builds on the previous work of the Office of the Childr ...
Publisher: Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC)
Published Date: 2012
Care – a stepping stone to custody?
Children in public care are disproportionately likely to find themselves in trouble with the law, compared to their peers. This qualitative study, commissioned by the Prison Reform Trust, explored the views of looked aft ...
Publisher: National Children's Bureau (NCB)
Published Date: 2012
Pathways from crime: ten steps to a more effective approach for young adults in the criminal justice process
This report identifies ten points in the criminal justice process where a more rigorous and effective approach for young adults and young people in the transition to adulthood (16-24) can be delivered.
Publisher: Transition to Adulthood (T2A)
Published Date: 2012
Action for Prisoners' Families: forums and special interest groups
Action for Prisoners' Families (APF) works for the benefit of prisoners' and offenders' families by representing the views of families and those who work with them and by promoting effective work with families. It is a ...
Publisher: Action for Prisoners' Families (APF)
Published Date: 2012
String of Pearls
The String of Pearls project uses the arts to convey how a prison sentence affects the rest of the family. It does this through poetry drama paintings music training and mentoring. For example, they use arts-based intera ...
Publisher: String of Pearls
Published Date: 2012
DH: Offender health
The Offender Health Division of the Department of Health (DH) is responsible for leading on development and delivery of a cross government Health and Criminal Justice Programme. The programme’s common aim is improving he ...
Publisher: Department of Health (DH)
Published Date: 2012
Centre for Mental Health
Centre for Mental Health aims to help to create a society in which people with mental health problems enjoy equal chances in life to those without. It focuses on criminal justice, employment, mental health at work, recov ...
Publisher: Centre for Mental Health
Published Date: 2012
Who's looking out for the children?: A joint inspection of Appropriate Adult provision and children in detention after charge
This joint thematic inspection of six Youth Offending Teams and police force areas examined the experiences of children and young people under 17 years while in police custody.
Publisher: Ministry of Justice
Published Date: 2012
Rules of engagement: changing the heart of youth justice. A policy report by the Youth Justice Working Group
This report is a review of the youth justice system to identify how it might be reformed to improve outcomes for young people, victims and society.
Publisher: Centre for Social Justice
Published Date: 2012
Looked after children and offending: reducing risk and promoting resilience
Early entry into care, stable placements and purposeful activity can significantly reduce a child’s risk of turning to crime
Publisher: TACT
Published Date: 2012
Who’s looking out for the children? A joint inspection of Appropriate Adult provision and children in detention after charge
This report, by a collaboration of inspectorates, found that too many children and young people continue to be held in police stations while waiting to appear in court after being charged and suggests that more should be ...
Publisher: HM Inspectorate Constabulary
Published Date: 2011
Brain Waves Module 4: Neuroscience and the law
This report sets out some of the areas where neuroscience might be of relevance to the law, along with some of the limits to its application. Specific issues discussed include risk assessment in probation and parole deci ...
Publisher: The Royal Society
Published Date: 2011
The overnight detention of children in police cells
This report looks the number of children held overnight in police cells, examines the factors that influence whether children are held overnight and the nature of training, policies and legal frameworks used to protect t ...
Publisher: Howard League for Penal Reform
Published Date: 2011
Care - a stepping stone to custody? The views of children in care on the links between care, offending and custody
This report from the Prison Reform Trust and National Children’s Bureau (NCB), indicates looked after children are far more likely to be convicted of a crime and end up in custody than other children. It makes a number o ...
Publisher: Prison Reform Trust
Published Date: 2011
Heading for trouble? (Research briefing)
A summary of new evidence on the role of advice services in preventing youth offending and the potential impact on crime of cuts to advice services This briefing is for providers, planners, researchers and policy makers ...
Publisher: Youth Access
Published Date: 2011
Parenting interventions for male young offenders: A review of the evidence on what works
Approximately one in four incarcerated male young offenders in the UK is an actual or expectant father. This paper reviews evidence on the effectiveness of parenting interventions for male young offenders
Publisher: Journal of Adolescence
Published Date: 2011
Ending gang and youth violence: cross-government report
The report looks into the scale of the problem of gang and youth violence, analyses its causes, and identifies what can be done by government and other agencies to stop the violence and to turn around the lives of those ...
Publisher: Home Office
Published Date: 2011
Learning from PPO investigations: violence reduction, bullying and safety
More effective reporting and recording of bullying among prisoners must be implemented to reduce the number of suicides within custody, according to a report from the prisons and probation ombudsman (PPO) for England and ...
Publisher: Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales
Published Date: 2011
Exploring racial/ethnic differences in substance use: a preliminary theory-based investigation with juvenile justice-involved youth
Racial/ethnic differences in representation, substance use, and its correlates may be linked to differential long-term health outcomes for juvenile justice-involved youth. Determining the nature of these differences is c ...
Publisher: BMC Pediatrics
Published Date: 2011
Re:actions: a third review of healthcare in the community for young people who offend
This is the the third review of healthcare in the community for young people who offend and looks at how Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) help provide health services to the children and young people they work with. It highl ...
Publisher: Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Published Date: 2011
'I must have been born bad': emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people in the youth justice system
This report by the Children’s Commissioner makes 19 recommendations, the main one being that children in custody should be placed in units of no more than 150. Other recommendations involve ensuring child-to-staff ratios ...
Publisher: Office of the Children's Commissioner
Published Date: 2011
Briefing document: CSE (child sexual exploitation) and youth offending
This document summarises key findings from original research into the association between child sexual exploitation (CSE) and youth offending in Derby. Patterns of offending are explored, along with their implications fo ...
Publisher: Jill Dando Institute of Security & Crime Science, University College London (UCL)
Published Date: 2011
The care of looked-after children in custody
This report gives information on the care of looked-after children aged 15 to 18 in young offender institutions. It examines the experience of these children, using survey data and in-depth interviews.
Publisher: Ministry of Justice
Published Date: 2011
Helping boys at-risk of criminal activity: qualitative results of a multi-component intervention
Background: This qualitative study examines parent and child experiences of participation in a multi-component community-based program aimed at reducing offending behaviour, and increasing social competence in boys 6 to ...
Publisher: BMC Public Health
Published Date: 2011
Into the Breach: the enforcement of statutory orders in the youth justice system
Too many children and teenagers are locked up, not for committing criminal or anti-social behaviour, but for failing to keep to the conditions of a previous court order. This is in spite of the fact that there is no evid ...
Publisher: The Prison Reform Trust
Published Date: 2011
Characteristics of and trends in subgroups of prisoner suicides in England and Wales
The suicide rate is higher in prisoners compared with the general population. The aim of this research was to describe the characteristics of and longitudinal trends in prisoner suicides in England and Wales. The researc ...
Publisher: Psychological Medicine
Published Date: 2011
Twisted: The use of force on children in custody
The Howard League for Penal Reform has revealed that privately run Secure Training Centres (STCs) are unlawfully using a “touch and hold policy” to make children comply with instructions.
Publisher: |The Howard League for Penal Reform
Published Date: 2011
Justice.gov.uk
Website bringing together information from a range of organisations working on youth justice issues, including YJB, Ministry of Justice, Her Majesty's Courts Service, the Prison Service, the Legal Services Commission and ...
Publisher: Justice.gov.uk
Published Date: 2011
Young people's views on restraint in the secure estate
This study explores young people’s experiences of the restraint element of separation within the secure estate.
Publisher: Children's Commissioner
Published Date: 2011
Your child could be taken into care: a guide for parents
This leaflet is part of the 'parent's pack' for parents who may be about to be taken to court by a local authority because of concerns over the safety and welfare of their child. It gives information in a clear and strai ...
Publisher: Ministry of Justice
Published Date: 2011
No Fixed Abode: The housing struggle
for young people leaving custody in England
Children as young as 13 are being released from custody into unsuitable and unsafe housing, leaving them vulnerable to reoffending at huge cost to themselves, society and the Exchequer.
Publisher: Barnardo's
Published Date: 2011
Enough on their plate: a briefing on food in young offender institutions for 15-17 year old boys
A report by the Howard League shows that children in young offender institutes are given such poor quality food, that fruit has become a means of bartering.
Publisher: Howard League for Penal Reform
Published Date: 2011
Children on family justice
This report reveals concerns children in care have about the court system. It gives first hand accounts of views and experiences of children and young people in care, or living away from home, on some of the main questio ...
Publisher: Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skill
Published Date: 2011
The youth justice system in England and Wales: Reducing offending by young people
Central government and local authorities spent £800 million in 2009-10 dealing with youth crime, primarily through the Youth Justice Board nationally and Youth Offending Teams locally. Ten per cent was spent on trying to ...
Publisher: House of Commons
Published Date: 2011
Secure foundation:young offenders academy: towards a Pathfinder
This report calls for the establishment of an integrated range of services for local young offenders before, during and after custodial and/or community sentences on a single campus.
Publisher: Foyer Federation
Published Date: 2011
The Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
The Commission calls for a new and principled framework for youth justice in England and Wales that would better protect the public, while restoring confidence in a system that is little trusted.
Publisher: The Independent Commission Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
Published Date: 2010
The youth justice system in England and Wales: reducing offending by young people
This report from the National Audit Office (NAO) found that improvements to the youth justice system over the past 10 years have contributed to reductions in recorded youth crime. However, despite a 25 per cent reductio ...
Publisher: National Audit Office (NAO)
Published Date: 2010
Healthy outlooks
Healthy Outlooks is NCB’s method for connecting people who work with children and young people ‘most in need’ to networks which can support them.
Publisher: National Children's Bureau (NCB)
Published Date: 2010
Breaking the cycle: effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders
This consultation sets out the resulting proposals which aim to break the destructive cycle of crime and protect the public, through more effectively punishing and rehabilitating offenders and reforming the sentencing fr ...
Publisher: Ministry of Justice
Published Date: 2010
Fitting the Crime: reforming community sentences - mending the weak link in the sentencing chain
This report asserts that community sentences are failing to reduce reoffending and are seen as a softer alternative to prison by the public. The report also argues that community sentencing is particularly ineffective in ...
Publisher: Policy Exchange
Published Date: 2010
Seen and heard: supporting vulnerable children in the youth justice system
Based on a survey of youth offending team staff, this report says courts are failing to recognise the needs of those with learning disabilities or prevent discrimination. A quarter of young offenders have an IQ of less t ...
Publisher: Prison Reform Trust
Published Date: 2010
Cafcass: Information for families
Provides information for families on family courts and the role of Cafcass - the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.
Publisher: Cafcass - Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service
Published Date: 2010
Children and young people in custody 2009–10: an analysis of the experiences of 15–18-year-olds in prison
This is the sixth report that HM Inspectorate of Prisons has published jointly with the Youth Justice Board. It draws together the reported experiences of 15–18-year-olds held in prisons and provides an opportunity to co ...
Publisher: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons
Published Date: 2010
A review of YOTs and children’s services’ interaction with young offenders and young people at risk of offending
This report presents the findings of a YJB commissioned study to review Children’s Services provision for young offenders and young people at risk of offending.
Publisher: Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB)
Published Date: 2010
Punishing disadvantage: a profile of children in custody
This report highlights the damaged and disadvantaged backgrounds of the majority of young people in custody and the high proportion of children imprisoned for non-violent and less serious offences. The authors set out to ...
Publisher: Prison Reform Trust
Published Date: 2010
Ofsted: Admission and discharge from secure accommodation
This report evaluates the processes of admission, discharge and resettlement of young people placed within the secure estate. It examines factors that help or constrain effective practice and makes recommendations for im ...
Publisher: Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skill
Published Date: 2010
Being judged, being assessed: young people’s perspective of assessment in youth justice and education
Research from the Economic and Social Research Council programme on Pathways Into and Out of Crime prioritised young people’s ‘voices’ in exploring experiences of crime and a range of intervention services. Drawing on da ...
Publisher: Children & Society
Published Date: 2010
Cognitive behaviour therapy for adolescent offenders with mental health problems in custody
Many studies have identified high levels of mental health problems among adolescents in custody and there is increasing evidence that mental health problems in this population are associated with further offending and me ...
Publisher: Journal of Adolescence
Published Date: 2010
A report on the Intensive Fostering Pilot Programme
The Youth Justice Board commissioned agencies in three parts of England to pilot the evidence-based intervention Multi-Dimensional Treatment Foster Care model which had been developed by the Oregon Social Learning Centre ...
Publisher: Youth Justice Board (YJB)
Published Date: 2010
Time for a fresh start: report of the Independent Commission
on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
This report sets out wide-ranging proposals for reforming the response to youth crime and antisocial behaviour in England and Wales.
Publisher: Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
Published Date: 2010
Message in a bottle: a joint inspection of youth alcohol misuse and offending
The joint report, completed with HM Inspectorate of Probation, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and Estyn, shows progress has been achieved but more improvement must be made.
It confirms that YOTs are sufficiently aware ...
Publisher: Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Published Date: 2010
Family intervention projects: a classic case of policy-based evidence
The Family Intervention Project (FIP) became a flagship policy in New Labour's anti-social behaviour strategy. In this briefing David Gregg discusses critically the attitude of the New Labour government to the academic e ...
Publisher: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
Published Date: 2010
You just get on and do it: healthcare provision in Youth Offending Teams
Findings and recommendations following a study of health care provision in youth offending teams (YOTs) in England, and a of review mental health diversion work along the youth justice pathway to contribute to the unders ...
Publisher: Centre for Mental Health
Published Date: 2010
The Bradley Report and the criminal justice workforce: tackling mental health and learning disabilities in the justice system
Examines the support justice workers need to implement the recommendations of Lord Bradley's review of how the justice system supports people with mental health problems or learning disabilities.
Publisher: Centre for Mental Health
Published Date: 2010
Adolescent Violence Perpetration: Associations With Multiple Types of Adverse Childhood Experiences
Objective: Adverse childhood experiences are associated with significant functional impairment and life lost in adolescence and adulthood. This study identified relationships between multiple types of adverse events and ...
Publisher: PEDIATRICS
Published Date: 2010
Trial and error: Children and young people in trouble with the law, a guide for charities and funders
This report explores the issue of youth offending and highlights some of the innovative and promising ways that charities are helping young people to stay out of trouble. It is aimed at charities and funders, examines st ...
Publisher: New Philanthropy Capital
Published Date: 2010
Cognitive vulnerability to depression in young people in secure accommodation: The influence of ethnicity and current suicidal ideation
Abstract: Young people in secure accommodation are at high risk of depression and self-harm. This study investigates the relationship between depressive symptoms, negative self-schemas and the cognitive vulnerability to ...
Publisher: Journal of Adolescence
Published Date: 2010
Working with Parents in the Youth Justice System: Compulsory Help and 'Doing Good'
This paper draws on interviews with parents of young people in trouble with the law, youth justice workers and with youth court magistrates, to investigate the operation of compulsory help through Parenting Orders.
Publisher: Practice
Published Date: 2010
Healthier Inside
Healthier Inside is a national programme that aims to improve the health and well-being of young people in secure settings. The programme supports, and shares effective practice to make secure settings as safe and health ...
Publisher: National Children's Bureau (NCB)
Published Date: 2009
Healthy children, safer communities: a strategy to promote the health and well-being of children and young people in contact with the youth justice system
This is a cross-government strategy. The programme of work under the strategy includes the development of tools to support health and well-being needs assessment across the youth justice continuum (community and secure s ...
Publisher: DH, DCSF (now DfE), MoJ, Home Office
Published Date: 2009
Young Adult Manifesto
This document contains T2A's 10 recommendations, which they believe would make the way in which we deal with young offenders more effective, fairer, and less costly.
Publisher: Transition to Adulthood
Published Date: 2009
Vulnerable defendants in the criminal courts: a review of provision for adults and children
This report reviews the provision of support in the court system for adults with learning disabilities or learning difficulties. The second half of the report examines the situation for children.
Publisher: Prison Reform Trust
Published Date: 2009
Improving Health, Supporting Justice: The National Delivery Plan of the Health and Criminal Justice Programme Board
The National delivery plan of the Health and Criminal Justice Programme Board was published in response to Lord Bradley’s earlier review into mental health and learning disability in the criminal justice system and other ...
Publisher: Department of Health
Published Date: 2009
Conflict resolution, restorative justice approaches and bullying in young people’s residential units
Restorative justice has been an increasing feature in the discourses within adult and youth justice criminal justice systems in recent years. This article examines interpersonal conflicts arising from crime, bullying and ...
Publisher: Children & Society
Published Date: 2009
Locking up or giving up? Why custody thresholds for teenagers aged 12, 13 and14 need to be raised. An analysis of the cases of 214 children sentenced to custody in England in 2007-08
A Barnardo’s study of children aged 12, 13 and 14 years old who have served a custodial sentence, has found that more than a third of them should not have been put behind bars, when judged against the Government’s own cr ...
Publisher: Barnardo's
Published Date: 2009
Young people on adult mental health wards
New standards for safe and appropriate care for young people on adult mental health wards are being piloted across England. This article describes how their use can help NHS trusts meet their obligations to ensure that y ...
Publisher: Mental Health Practice
Published Date: 2009
The Bradley report: Lord Bradley's review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system
This independent review was commissioned to examine the extent to which offenders with mental health problems or learning disabilities could, in appropriate cases, be diverted from prison to other services and the barrie ...
Publisher: Department of Health (DH)
Published Date: 2009
Managing transitions from secure settings - Report and resources
This resource is designed to support practice with children and young people who are moving on from, or within, the secure estate. A companion resource is available for those managing transitions from adolescent psychiat ...
Publisher: NCB
Published Date: 2009
The Government’s Response to the Report by Peter Smallridge and Andrew Williamson of a Review of the Use of Restraint in Juvenile Secure Settings
Peter Smallridge and Andrew Williamson are both former Directors of Social Services in Kent and Devon respectively. They were commissioned to conduct an independent review of the use of restraint in juvenile secure setti ...
Publisher: Ministry of Justice, Cm 7501
Published Date: 2008
Delivering every child matters in secure settings: a practical toolkit for improving the health and well-being of young people
This practical toolkit was developed by NCB to support delivery of Every Child Matters - the previous government's framework for improving outcomes for children and young people. It pulls together the various standards a ...
Publisher: National Children's Bureau (NCB)
Published Date: 2008
Meeting the speech language and communication needs of vulnerable young people: Model of service delivery for those at risk of
offending and re-offending
This proposed model of service delivery addresses the speech and language therapy provision needed in the care pathway for this vulnerable group of children and young people at risk of offending.
Publisher: Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT)
Published Date: 2008
London youth offending teams: mental health mapping
This report is based on a quantitative and qualitative mapping exercise that looks at the nature and scope of YOT mental health work across London.
Publisher: Care Services Improvement Programme (CSIP)
Published Date: 2008
When to share information: best practice guidance for everyone working in the youth justice system
This guidance has been developed as a cross-governmental initiative on behalf of Department of Health, Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Youth Justice Board and the Prison Service. The guidance is set ou ...
Publisher: Department of Health (DH)
Published Date: 2008
Make Me a Criminal: Preventing youth crime
This report by the institute for policy research makes the case for a more therapeutic and family-based approach to youth offending, as opposed to the present, more punitive, system. It shows that prolific criminals star ...
Publisher: Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)
Published Date: 2008
Prisoners’ Information Book: Male Prisoners and Young Offenders
A handbook that tells male prisoners, including young offenders aged 18 or over, the main things they need to know about being in prison such as prison rules and ways of doing things and prisoners’ rights.
Publisher: The Prison Reform Trust
Published Date: 2008
Promoting mental health for children held in secure settings: A framework for commissioning services
This document aims to ensure that children in custodial and other secure settings have access to comprehensive child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to which all children are entitled.
Publisher: Department of Health
Published Date: 2007
Mental health needs of young offenders in custody and in the community
This paper evaluates the mental health and psychosocial needs of a nationally representative sample of juvenile offenders in England and Wales, including female offenders and those from black and minority ethnic (BME) gr ...
Publisher:
Published Date: 2006
Mental health needs and effectiveness of provision for young offenders in custody and in the community
The aims of this project were to:
Describe current models of mental health provision andexamples of good practice.
To examine a national sample to estimate the level of mental health and psychosocial needs of young of ...
Publisher: Youth Justice Board (YJB)
Published Date: 2005