Home Office Good Practice Seminars
Prolific & other priority offenders seminar
Workshops - 2 December
Workshop 2
Working with persistent or serious young offenders
(Susan Walker, Manager, Manchester West ISSP)
Key points from the presentation
ISSP is for prolific and serious young offenders
It is a court alternative to custody
Focuses on the causes of the behaviour and addresses the needs of the community.
5 offences in 12 months is the criteria or the current offence for which they are charged carries a 14 year or more sentence if convicted.
Key points from the discussion
Is it difficult to engage parents?
Can be. Some are on parenting orders but on the whole the relationship tends to be a positive one and there are very few complaints.Is there an identifiable group that ISSP is successful with?
No each client is an individual, no real identifiable 'success' group.Do you hold the order that the ISSP is attached to?
YOTs hold the order but ISSP team will initiate breach procedings.Is tagging essential to ISSP?
Yes it is critical. A recent study in Oxford concluded that young people in ISSP should be tagged for 3 months.How big are ISSP caseloads?
Usually each worker has 4 intensive and 2 less intensive cases. The balance is not always like that, we tend to pool resources and work as a cluster according to the demand at the time.What has been the reaction of the young people?
Some said prison would be easier as ISSP is intensely structured. It can only help ultimately if the individual wants to change their life.
Download: Working with persistent or serious young offenders (PowerPoint presentation) 44Kb
Last update: 16 May 2005