Shayla Wilson (BSc Criminology and Social Policy) was awarded First Prize for her dissertation addressing the potential impact of third sector organisations to facilitate diversionary practices alongside Youth Offending Services.
Read on for more information about Shayla's prizewinning entry...
Should third sector organisations forge formalised partnerships with Youth Offending Services in order to facilitate diversion?
First Time Entrants’ rates are declining, though the overrepresentation of socially excluded young people amongst the numbers remains concerning. In recent years, diversionary practices have been adopted in certain areas across England and Wales, and most schemes have proven successful in terms of reduced custody rates, inciting desistance and reforming young people’s lives through a holistic approach. Moreover, third sector organisations frequently demonstrate expertise in providing wrap-around services that mitigate structural disadvantages and behavioural patterns strongly correlated to youth offending. However, the geographical variation of diversion means that (in areas where diversion is not employed) many young people’s needs are being mistaken as risks to society, often leading to criminogenic methods of punishment and/or rehabilitation. In light of this, this research aimed to critically explore the potential for these third sector actors to forge formalised collaborations with Youth Offending Services in order to enable and enhance effective diversion. Using specifically Southampton areas as the focal point, a locality with little-to-no diversionary schemes imposed, this study draws on an internet-based documentary analysis, comprised of numerous websites and reports. The data collected and analysed, through codes and themes, highlighted that encouraging interagency work alongside a mutual child’s rights ethos were the main reasons third sector organisations could be found compatible with criminal justice actors. Conversely, Hampshire Constabulary’s apprehensions that emerged, together with external financial pressures were the primary obstacles to building an inter-sector partnership that arose from analysis. Overall, findings from this study suggest that third sector organisations should forge formalised partnerships with Youth Offending Services to facilitate diversion.
Youth justice practices have evolved over time, but to this day there is still no consensus as to the ‘best method’ of addressing juvenile delinquency. My dissertation highlights the myriad of criminological and sociological research which has accumulated over time, and shows the damaging impact of punitive youth justice practices on life-trajectories. Moreover, the literature points out that the most socially excluded young people are the most likely to be offenders. Additionally, it supports that as a method of youth justice, diversion represents a positive, holistic approach to combatting youth crime, and mitigating the deleterious effects of the wide range of challenges they may face. Though the criminal justice sphere has begun to open itself to other sectors, the third sector has been significantly lagging behind the private/business agencies. However, the literature review and my document analysis together, exemplify the positive impact charitable agencies have upon young people’s lives, and the potentially life-changing impact they could have in inciting desistance by alleviating disadvantage, should these actors join forces with youth offending services to deliver diversion. My research paves the way for future investigations to conduct further inquiries into how these formalised partnerships can become a reality without jeopardising either party’s ethos’ and strengthening the youth justice approach in England, as they have in Wales.
With the persisting neo-liberal ideology in today’s society, understandings of deserving and undeserving citizens are continuously shaped for political convenience. Offenders in general comprise a large section of this undeserving. Governments throughout recent history have tended to frame the socially excluded child as deserving, while the similarly (if not more so) socially excluded young offender as undeserving. These political discourses have penetrated deep into policy, practice and public perceptions. For this reason, greater emphases on punishment over rehabilitation dominate the criminal justice arena. What my dissertation demonstrates is an alternative avenue to youth justice, which would not only be financially sustainable, but would allow experts in socio-economic disadvantage to intervene in the young offenders lives (on a volunteer basis) to enable positive changes, while simultaneously alleviating some of the pressure on youth offending services to provide equal access to resources and justice to all adolescents. Though the study is not representative of all English jurisdictions, the results of the study indicate that for Southampton, diversion could be a fruitful alternative to their current restorative approach. Additionally, the results suggest that this substitute could be viable, though further investigations are needed to gain insight as to how these partnerships can become a reality.
Overall, the collaboration of third sector agencies and youth offending services, suggests a contemporary solution to a persisting social problem, that, if enforced across English jurisdictions could have positive impacts upon the child, the wider community and more broadly on the youth offending services.