Part of young offender work in Blackburn and Darwen 'inadequate' (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Part of young offender work in Blackburn and Darwen 'inadequate'
1:40pm Sunday 8th February 2009 in News
YOUNG offenders are being put at risk and almost half of all punishments have no provable benefit for the community, a report into Blackburn with Darwen’s Youth Justice Service said.
The service, run by the council, police and probation service, was branded “inadequate” in its community work with children who were deemed likely to offend.
Inspectors said children at risk of harming themselves or others were not identified properly and there were no reviews of those who were spotted. They found cases where mental health and substance misuse referrals had not been made, no action had been taken to get excluded children back to school and health problems were not addressed.
It said that there was no evidence either the child or the public were safer as a result of the team’s work in six out of 10 cases.
The service was graded “good” overall, but only reached this rating in three of its eight assessment areas — for its management and leadership, work in the courts, and work with parents and carers. It received no “excellent” ratings.
Peter Morgan, chair of the Blackburn with Darwen Youth Justice Board, said: “The overall ‘good’ judgement is to be celebrated.
“One of our key targets is to reduce first-time entrants to the criminal justice system which we have by 20 per cent over the last three years which is double the national average.”
Comments(12)
The offspring
says...
2:53pm Sun 8 Feb 09
Marky mark
says...
7:13pm Sun 8 Feb 09
The offspring wrote:No a 2 week stay in florida with exclusive passes to walt disney world would be more appropriate.
Give them the birch
Barbara J
says...
9:50pm Sun 8 Feb 09
Slimplynth
says...
10:41pm Sun 8 Feb 09
Barbara J wrote:Good point Barb, the parents deserve a good public birching but I'd say my family was pretty ~uckin dysfunctional, my mums only parenting was not to bring the police to her house when i was a teenager, not that i ever did cause anyone any grief. I chose to better myself and get out of highercroft by getting a decent education. People who lack motivation to change for the better or do something decent with their life are, as far as i'm concerned, free to stagnante in their own life. The moment they start making anyone else's difficult they should be punished. The only punishmet, especially lads, learn from is pain.. and seeing people being hurt would also prevent those watchhing straying.. "public birchers needed" where do i sign up?
It is rather foolish to make fun of young offenders. I work in a jail teaching them to read and really all they are looking for is attention. More thought should be put into the parents inability to parent or just lack of parental control. Parents should take a look at themselves and ask the question am I doing all I can for my son/daughter. Most of the problems stem from the home so maybe it is the parents who should be brought to task. God help the children who come from dysfunctional families
Blondie
says...
10:03am Mon 9 Feb 09
In most cases the young offender come from this type of family and that is why punishment doesn't work.
Blondie
says...
10:04am Mon 9 Feb 09
God help the children who come from dysfunctional families
My quote was missing.
Slimplynth
says...
1:00pm Mon 9 Feb 09
Barbara J, In most cases the young offender come from this type of family and that is why punishment doesn't work.Id say I agree to some degree Blondie, there's no denying that some of the more deprived areas produce some of the nastiest piece's of work in Blackburn though.
http://www.upmystree
t.com/local/police-c
rime/figures/l/Black
burn-3520.html
Some crime stats showing that Blackburn ranks prety high (Nationaly) with regards to violent and sexual crimes.
also... (if you believe any statistics)
http://www.statistic
s.gov.uk/cci/nugget.
asp?id=1968
shows that the Northwest had the highest number of ASBOs issued in the UK for 2004/05. With Scotland ranking near the bottom and also home to the murder capital of the coutry i'd say you can infer something here.. that the type of crimes you need to commit to get an ASBO are the kind that bring a town down and make people (victims) generally miserable or cost society money to fix (I'd say that fits the blackburn pretty well). Where as i guess in Scotland it must be a nicer place to live in harmony with your fellow man but the risk of a truly shocking crime is greater.
some other interesing ones here but would prefer to see 2008's.. what affect the credit crunch has had on theft...
http://www.census.go
v/compendia/statab/c
ats/law_enforcement_
courts_prisons/crime
s_and_crime_rates.ht
ml
Whats the Matta
says...
9:15pm Mon 9 Feb 09
It is also wrong to blame the parents in these modern times. Some parents neglect the importance of discipline and good behaviour, amongst their offspring, but the shift in power has had great influence of producing feral children of all ages.
A parent is now in a catch 22 situation. They are damned if they do (by the authorities, charities, and the schools) and they are damned if they don't, by the same agencies as mentioned earlier.
A child that refuses to attend school risks their parent(s) being imprisoned. A parent that physically forces their child to school risks being prosecuted for abuse, or assault.
However, they will be left to run riot because of a lack of YOI places, except for the most violent (murder) of criminals.
Glowdoll
says...
10:10pm Mon 9 Feb 09
Isnt it more likely that fewer young people are being sent into custody due to their being a lack of space to put them there as they are already filled with young offenders?
Y.O.T offer a variety of punishments i.e. weekly trips to the cinema, bowling alley and regular trips to McDonalds and visits to other towns. From my knowlegde they have to attend on average 2 hours of community punishment (gardening) a week. The decent young people who want to better themselves and go to college or work dont recieve these benefits of fun days out or any incentives to work hard apart from a £30 a week EMA payment from the government and probably no praise.
Hey if i was 17 and i had a choice of working hard for no short term reward or commit crime knowing it would be rewarded with fun filled days out for a few months free of charge i think i know which would be the easy option. No wonder these kids re-offend, the minute their order is completed it all stops.
Dont typecast young offenders as all being from council estates or low educated families. Peer pressure is a major issues these days along with bullying and the lazy **** attitude of not having to work for money because the state will pay. Or should that be crime does?
Slimplynth
says...
10:14pm Mon 9 Feb 09
Whats the Matta
says...
10:23pm Tue 10 Feb 09
Glowdoll wrote:Could not agree more.
"We are particularly proud of the fact that fewer young people are being sent into custody in Blackburn with Darwen because the courts have confidence in what we do."
Isnt it more likely that fewer young people are being sent into custody due to their being a lack of space to put them there as they are already filled with young offenders?
Y.O.T offer a variety of punishments i.e. weekly trips to the cinema, bowling alley and regular trips to McDonalds and visits to other towns. From my knowlegde they have to attend on average 2 hours of community punishment (gardening) a week. The decent young people who want to better themselves and go to college or work dont recieve these benefits of fun days out or any incentives to work hard apart from a £30 a week EMA payment from the government and probably no praise.
Hey if i was 17 and i had a choice of working hard for no short term reward or commit crime knowing it would be rewarded with fun filled days out for a few months free of charge i think i know which would be the easy option. No wonder these kids re-offend, the minute their order is completed it all stops.
Dont typecast young offenders as all being from council estates or low educated families. Peer pressure is a major issues these days along with bullying and the lazy **** attitude of not having to work for money because the state will pay. Or should that be crime does?
When they are found an hotel place, they're provided with all kind of luxuries. I know they are. I had to deliver them.
matthewcain
says...
12:28pm Wed 11 Feb 09
http://blog.matthewc
ain.co.uk/prison-doe
snt-work/
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