Popularly known as YOTs, Youth Offending Teams are made up of staff from five statutory agencies: West Midlands Police Service, Probation Service, Social Services, Education Service, Health Service and a range of non statutory agencies: HIAH (substance misuse agency), Connexions (education, training and employment agency) and Restorative Justice workers. There are seven teams covering Coventry, Birmingham, Solihull, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The wider West Midlands YOT region embraces Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Coventry and Warwickshire.

This pooling of expertise and experience from so many different local agencies is intended to ensure that young offenders do not grow into older offenders. Emphasis is placed on closely supervised programmes designed to change young offenders’ behaviour and attitudes.

An expanding range of options is now available for dealing with young offenders. They include:

Final Warning

A replacement for the caution system, this requires the individual concerned to admit the offence and complete a programme of activities aimed at tackling the root causes of their actions.

Early Intervention

These are programmes that target the fifty young people aged 14-17 in a given geographical area that are identified as most at risk of becoming involved in offending and/or anti-social behaviour. These programmes are organised around a number of key activities intended to divert these young people from potentially offending in future. Such interventions are delivered through Youth Inclusion Programme teams.

Referral Orders

This order can be made by the court when a young offender pleads guilty at court to a first offence. The offender is referred to a panel made up of a member of the local YOT and two specially trained volunteers from the local community. Together, they decide what programme the offender should undergo. Programmes can include victim/offender mediation – either direct or indirect; behavioural initiatives and education and training.

Detention and Training Orders

This is a custodial sentence half of which is spent in custody and the remaining half in the community, where there are two contacts per week with a member of the local YOT. Training is provided throughout to equip individuals with the social vocational skills they will need to get a job.

Reparation Orders

Courts can ensure that young offenders make amends to their victims directly or to the wider community through what is known as ‘community payback’. This might entail offenders, for example, in removing litter or graffiti from public spaces, repairing damaged property or undertaking a closely supervised work placement. Reparation, either direct or indirect, is an integral part of all statutory orders imposed at court.

Behaviour Programmes

Programmes designed to address offending behaviour are integral parts of statutory orders. They are designed to explore and examine the way in which young people make non-productive decisions and to help them understand and take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.

Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programmes

This programme is designed to work with both persistent young offenders and those committing serious crimes. ISSPs are intended as alternatives to custodial sentences. They provide 25 hours per week of intensive interventions for each young person as well as electronic tagging or monitoring.