The purpose of this strand is to increase the overall impact of the strategy by ensuring those who are targeted by Catch and Convict are not replaced by the next generation of super prolific offenders. It aims to identify those young people who are at risk of offending, offer interventions that are appropriate to meet the needs of these young people and prevent continued offending amongst this group.
There are a number of current activities in local areas, already involved in work with young people who are at risk of offending, both within mainstream services, such as schools, and through more specialised community based programmes. The Prevent and Deter strand of the PPO strategy places a responsibility on CDRPs to identify both the level of activity and interventions that are in place within their local area along with the current level of youth offending that is taking place.
Youth Offending Teams
Local Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) have a crucial role in the delivery of this strand, and their work supports the Youth Justice System and its agencies, by undertaking assessments of the risks, needs and circumstances of the individual young offenders. YOTs work with Health and Local Government services to ensure the delivery of community based programmes as part of court sentences to tackle re-offending. They identify exit strategies for young people that will deliver continued support from mainstream or specialist services post-sentence.
Though the priority for local CDRPs is to ensure prevent and deter arrangements focus on those young people who are already offending, they must also ensure that they work with partner agencies, including Local Strategic Partnerships and Children and Young People's Partnerships, to focus on young people who are on the cusp of offending, or those who are already engaged in lower level crime. In doing so, they reduce the number of young people becoming active young offenders and prevent them from becoming future PPOs.
CDRPs in conjunction with YOTs also work with Youth Inclusion Support Panels to prevent those on the verge of criminality from developing criminal lifestyles. They do this by ensuring local arrangements are in place to identify those young people most at risk of offending and that local provision is available to support these young people in resisting criminality.
GOSW role
GOSW is responsible for supporting and advising South West CDRPs and their partner agencies in the development and implementation of the Prevent and Deter strand of the PPO strategy. We ensure the appropriate governance arrangements are in place for multi-agency working and identify and share best practice across the region.
