4.1 Youth Justice Guidance for Practitioners

1. Introduction

The YOS Management Board has the statutory responsibility for setting the strategic direction of Youth Offending within the County.

The Lincolnshire Youth Justice Services were set up under Section 38 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which places (on the local authority) a statutory duty to provide youth justice services in its area. Section 39 of the Act requires areas to establish Youth Offending Teams, and Section 40 requires that each year, a Youth Justice Plan is formulated and implemented. This plan can be found here.

In Lincolnshire we have an overarching goal to ensure that young people within the youth justice system are first and foremost fully supported to change their behaviour, realise their potential and make a positive contribution to their communities. We are also committed to underpin future practice with core principles, including a restorative and family-centred approach, develop the use of relationship-based practice and utilise a strengths-based approach to promote desistance from criminal behaviour.

Future4Me's Safeguarding Lead is the Service Manager.

2. Our Vision in Future4Me – Youth Justice

• Children, young people & families in Lincolnshire will be:
  • Helped to make changes for themselves;
  • Seen as a positive solution to the challenges they face;
  • Able to get the right service at the right time;
  • Understood as a whole family.
• To be truly effective we must always endeavour to make a meaningful and positive difference in the lives of children and young people we work with and support and actively challenge ourselves when we do not achieve this;
• We will seek to be consistently recognised as a service which raises aspirations and strives for the very best outcomes for children and young people in Lincolnshire;
• To ensure children and young people in Lincolnshire maximise every opportunity to fulfil their potential talent;
• We must listen and engage with children and young people, hear their perspectives and put them at the heart of solving problems and overcoming barriers.

3. Our Goals in Future4Me – Youth Justice

• Prevent offending;
• Reduce re-offending;
• Ensure the needs and voices of victims are fully integrated within our practice;
• Work to ensure custody is limited only to those young people whose risk cannot be in the community;
• Protect the public from the harm that young people can cause to individuals, communities and the public;
• Ensure effective safeguarding for those young people we work with; and
• Adhere to clearly set out Restorative Justice principles in dealing with young people and victims.

We will do this by ensuring that:

• Young people are assessed to the very highest standards and are offered interventions taking into account individual learning styles that will reduce those identified risks;
• Young people are properly managed throughout their sentence and through their transition to adulthood;
• Sentences are robustly enforced to ensure the credibility of Court Orders and the confidence of the public;
• Attention is given to the needs of victims and restorative outcomes are offered wherever possible.

4. Legislation and Practice Guidance

Practitioners working within Future4Me should follow the relevant guidance as below: