Q. What does the Youth Offending Team do?
The Youth Offending Team works with young people 10 –17 years old who are involved in criminal behaviour and their families.
Q. What is a Supervision Order?
A Supervision Order is a court-imposed order of any duration form 6 months to 2 years in a youth court. Up to 3 years in a Crown Court. The order specifically includes requirements for work to be undertaken with the young person and where appropriate their family, around a range of issues. These include: offending behaviour, peer relationships, family relationships, education/training/employment, victim issues, and impulse control/anger management/conflict resolution. These can also include either direct or indirect reparation, as appropriate. Other requirements may be added in specific cases i.e. with regard to racially motivated, sexual or very violent offences.
Q. What might be part of any process of Supervision Planning?
At the point of writing the Pre-sentence report for Court the case manager will contact everyone who has information to supply about the young person. The information will be collated and taken into consideration with the offence details in order to draw up a plan of supervision. This will also take into consideration the young person’s stage of development. In other words, aimed at his/her level of understanding and interactions, not just his/her chronological age.
Q. What is the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP)?
ISSP is not a stand-alone order, but forms part of a supervison order imposed by the Court. This takes the form of specified activities (which could include a stand alone curfew order for a period of six months). This will entail a high level of intervention by ISSP workers, starting off initially on a high intensity programme, for the first 3 months. The second half of the ISSP is of a lower intensity and gradually reduced until, at the point of closure at 6 months, the case is fully managed by the YOT officer. Regular reviews take place between the ISSP staff, the case manager on the YOT, the young person and their family throughout the order.
Q. What is an Attendance Centre?
Attendance centers are, in the main, staffed by either serving or retired Police Officer with a number of other staff members who undertake particular programmes of work with young people around education, offending behaviour and recreational activities. In Oldham these are currently held fortnightly on a Saturday morning.
Q. What sort of services do you offer?
The Oldham Youth Offending Team can offer the following services:
Writing pre-sentence reports, action plane, reparation and youth offender panel reports;
Undertaking parenting order assessments;
Supervision of community based court orders;
Providing an appropriate adult service for young people in Police custody when parents are unable to attend;
Supervision of young offenders during and after custody;
Facilitation group work with young offenders;
Parenting support course;
Assessment and intervention with young people who received final warnings;
Advising youth offender panels;
Facilitating restorative justice conferences.
Q. What is an Action Plan Order?
An Action Plan Order is a court order for a period of 3 months requiring a detailed plan of work to be undertaken similar in nature, although of less intensity, to the work undertaken as part of a supervision order.
Q. What sort of preventative projects are there running in Oldham?
Current projects include:
Youth Inclusion Programmes
Splash
Youth Works
Kickstart
Peacemaker
Q. What is a Pre-Sentence Report?
When a young person pleads or is found guilty, the Court may decide they require more information than can be provided on the day by the solicitor in mitigation in order to determine on a sentence. In these cases Magistrates may request a range of reports: stand down reports are undertaken on the day, specific sentence reports and pre-sentence reports require and adjournment of 3 weeks or in the case of persistent young offenders, 2 weeks. During this time the YOT officer will contact all the appropriate people who may be able to provide relevant information about the young person. This is presented in a form that is prescribed by the Youth Justice Boards. The Magistrates use the information contained in this report and any recommendation in the conclusion to decide on the appropriate sentence of the offence committed.
A Parenting Order is a court imposed order requiring the parent of a young offender to co-operate with some specific work around parenting issues.
Q. What is a Detention and Training Order?
Depending on their age and particular circumstances a young person is place in either a Local Authority secure Unit: secure training center or young offender institution for a period of time specified by Court. The half of any DTO is served in the custodial establishment, with the other half on licence in the community, with a range of specific intervention required similar to those under a supervision order.
Q. What is a Community Punishment Order?
A Community Punishment Order is a Court imposed order for a specified number of hours. The hours are completed as arranged with probation Service and involve manual labour or some description in reparation to the community.
Q. What is a Community Rehabilitation Order?
A Community Rehabilitation Order is a court imposed order for a period of between 3 months and 2 years. A programme of specified work would be drawn up and undertaken similar to that under the requirements of a supervision order. The community rehabilitation order would be imposed for young people from 16 years of age to the transfer.
Q. What age of children and young people do you work with?
The Youth Offending team works with young people from 10 - 17 years (The age of criminal responsibility is 10 and young people transfer to the Probation Service at age 18 years).
Q. The Youth Offending Team team runs Group work for young people - what is this?
The Youth Offending Team recognizes that a very effective way of addressing certain aspects of young people’s offending is within a group setting. Similar issuers to those, which would be covered on a one to one basis, under the requirements of a supervision order, are explored through discussion and in the use of specific exercises. Making use of positive peer influence, much as negative peer influence may have influenced their offending.
Q. I am concerned about youth crime in my community - are there ways in which I can help?
We require volunteers for Youth Offender Panels, Mentoring and the Appropriate Adult Volunteer Scheme.
Oldham Youth Offending Service is currently recruiting Referral Order panel volunteers and would like to hear from anyone with an interest in working with children and representing the local community of Oldham.
Referral Orders are a court order imposed on young people who admit their crime and who haven’t been convicted before. This sentence means that the young person and their parents meet with a panel of adults from the local community, to decide and agree on appropriate interventions and future action to help them stop offending. This can mean meeting the victim of their offence, so the young person hears first hand the effects of what they have done. This can lead to making amends and in most cases some form of direct or indirect reparation.
Are you interested in becoming a volunteer panel member helping the young people of Oldham? You can be of any age and from anywhere within the Oldham borough Panel volunteers often do this worthwhile work for many different reasons, to gain experience if thinking of a career in child care, to contribute to the local community in helping children ‘get back on track’ or because they have time to spare and wish to contribute to young people’s well being.
You will be given full-accredited training, police background check clearance, and out of pocket expenses.
You could be helping our young people get their lives back on track!
The next volunteer panel member training begins on the 31st October 2006 and consists of six evenings, 5.00 p.m. until 8.00 p.m. finishing with a half day on Saturday the 9th of December.
If you are interested please contact the Oldham Youth Offending Service on 0161 621 9500 and ask to speak to Gaynor Mills who will be pleased to send you an application pack.
Q. Who works in the Youth Offending Team?
The following gourps / bodies are all involved with the Youth Offending Team:
Police;
Social Services;
Education;
Probation;
Youth Services;
Health;
Careers; and
Lifeline.