The Policing of Young Offenders

Abstract

In order to reduce the level of youth offending in England and Wales, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Youth Justice Board have emphasized the importance of multi-agency work. Recent years have witnessed the introduction of ‘robust’ community interventions for young offenders, including the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP). This paper assesses the involvement of the police in ISSP, as well as the wider contribution of police officers to youth offending teams (YOTs). Whilst the study identified ‘good practice’ in relation to intelligence-led policing and joined-up youth justice intervention, there was some variability amongst ISSP schemes and YOTs. In some contrast to the findings of Burnett and Appleton (2004), the specific contribution of police officers to youth justice work was regarded by civilian practitioners and police officers themselves as unique and specialized. Following de Lint (2003), it was found that the police are key in terms of ‘brokering access’ to young offenders.