Insights from evaluations of FAST TRACK and INCLUDEM

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Insights from evaluations ofFAST TRACK and
INCLUDEM
STRATEGIES and PROGRAMMESfor YOUNG PEOPLE who
PERSISTENTLY OFFEND

• MALCOLM HILL
• University of Strathclyde

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FAST TRACK INCLUDEM
Target individual young people with an
established history of repeat offending
mainly in their mid-teens

• Aim to reduce re-offending
• Make speedier responses
• Provide comprehensive
• intervention programmes

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FAST TRACK

• Multi-agency strategy
• reporters, police, panel members, social
  workers
• Scottish Executive funded and promoted
• Time-scale targets for reporting and
  decision-making
• Specific entry criterion (5 offence referrals
  in 6 months)
• Guaranteed risk assessment and programme

• Pilot basis 2003-5
• 3 sites in 6 local authorities

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INCLUDEM

• Voluntary organisation established in 2000, now
  covering much of central Scotland
• Varied projects and general entry criterion,
  though most young people have a history of
  offending
• Offender teams 2/3 have high or very high YLS
  scores

• Aims to offer a 24/7 service tailored to the
  individual
• in collaboration with other services
  (wraparound)
• Principle of stickability
• Workers, mentors, helpline. Workbook and weekly
  planner

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FAST TRACK
EVALUATIONS
INCLUDEM
Some similarities in objectives, data sources
and period (2002-5)
CARRIED OUT SEPARATELY
Pre-ISMS tagging
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FAST TRACK
EVALUATION OUTCOMES
INCLUDEM
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FAST TRACK
EVALUATION OUTCOMES
INCLUDEM
BUT Offending reduced even more
in comparison areas 81 YP lower offending No.
offences down 55
X
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The Executive decided to discontinue Fast
Track and concentrate instead on Standards
?? Accuracy of offending data
A longer follow up (14m.) showed
convergence in offending reductions between Fast
Track and comparison cases
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TIME-SCALES

• Evidence showed that police, reporters and social
  workers
• provided reports and took decisions more quickly
• in Fast Track areas
• compared with previously
• compared with other authorities/forces
• Targets met in 90 cases
• Some generalisation to non-Fast Track cases

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Did speed matter?
Most respondants thought that it conveyed
seriousness to young people and did not detract
from quality of informataon
INFORMATION SHARING Some, mainly social workers,
thought it detracted from assessment quality and
thoroughness or capacity to intervene
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INFORMATION SHARING
Issue of electronic transfer of reports from
police and social work
?
Poor linkage of information between
SCRA/Hearings and Courts
Technological, operational and ethical
considerations
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INFORMATION SHARING
A majority of reporters, panel members and
service-providers stated that more
comprehensive information and assessments
occurred in Fast Track cases
Use of YLS or ASSET Fast Track cases - nearly
all (95) Comparison sites only one third
Welcomed by panel members
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INTER-AGENCY CO-OPERATION
Reporters, police and social workers all reported
better communication and joint planning as a
key benefit of Fast Track
Includem emphasise individualised brokerage of
access to services. Young people reported the
value of close support in negotiating access
especially with regard to FE, employment and
accommodation.
In Fast Track and Includem services, links with
mental health services tended to be poorer
than to other services
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ATTENDING TO DEEDSAND NEEDS

• Most respondents in both Fast Track and
  comparison areas
• Welcomed the focus on risk assessment and
  offending behaviour
• Believed the young persons welfare needs should
• be central in decision-making

• In a case questionnaire survey, most panel
  members stated that Fast Track had
• a good focus on offending
• not adversely affected attention to young
  peoples needs

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ATTENDING TO DEEDSAND NEEDS
Four fifths of young people with Includem wanted
help with at least 2 areas of their lives other
than offending
Qualitative evidence from the Includem
evaluations indicated that some came to identify
needs for change, especially with regard
to education and employment.
Outcome evidence showed that improvements and
setbacks in offending often paralleled changes on
other dimensions e.g. family relations,
accommodation, education
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INTENSITY OF SERVICE

• In Fast Track cases, most commonly the total
  input of community based services was 3-8 hours
  per week.
• Social work/youth justice input was typically
  1-3 hours per week.

Includem intensive services 15 hours per
week Often daily contact
Young people, parents and social workers saw 24
hour helpline as vital part of the service
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INTENSITY OF SERVICE
If theyd just came once a week Id probably
have ignored them and totally forgot about them
in between. Young person at Includem.

• Social workers identified significant
  improvements in
• two thirds to three quarters of Includem
  cases
• (depending on the Project).
• Main reasons for improvement identified by
• both social workers and young people were
• relationship with Includem worker
• high frequency contact
• out-of-hours support.

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LA Social Worker accounts
(1) Includem undoubtedly kept him from going off
the rails by offering him a brilliant intensive
support package   (2) He has not picked up any
new charges since last year. The ultimate goal
was to see a significant change in his offending
behaviour which has been realised This is a
major development for him due to his long history
of offending.
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The contribution of structuredprogrammes

• In some Fast track cases extra input came from
  mentors, youth support workers, social work
  assistants and through care staff.
• In others referrals were made to structured
  programmes run by children/young peoples
  organisations or SACRO.
• Twice as many young people in Fast track sites
  (40) attended a standard programme as in
  Comparison sites (20)

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The contribution of structuredprogrammes

• Unwise to conclude that greater use of structured
  programmes was part of reason for Fast Track
  failure?
• strong prior evidence from US and UK research
• numbers too small and diverse to draw firm
  conclusions
• from within Fast Track study
• some programmes not fully staffed or developed
• doubts about offending data

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The contribution of structuredprogrammes
Includem workbook and weekly planners structure
goals, actions and review. A majority of young
people found these helpful a minority saw it
as not salient or helpful. Most social workers
were positive about the Includem approach, but
some would like more structure and
standardisation or a explicit cognitive-behaviour
al orientation.
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The duration of serviceNo quick fix
Includem evaluations suggest that improvements
often did not become clear until at least 3
months. Early progress was commonly followed
by setbacks, notably at 7-9 months. Then often
progress was renewed. At the 12-24 month stage,
negative events had become few behaviour,
family, education/employment, accommodation
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The duration of servicePoor responses in the
short term
At Includem those young people with
alcohol/substance misuse problems were most
likely to have continuing significant difficulties
In Fast Track young people aged 9-12 were least
likely to reduce offending
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THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST
Previous evidence suggests that a close personal
relationship alone is often ineffective in
reducing offending. But a close personal
relationship is often an essential part of
effective practice (e.g. McNeill and
Bachelor) Young people are often reluctant to
engage with specialist services

• 49 out of a cohort of 50 young people were still
  being served by Includem after 6 months.

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Young peoples feedback on why they like and
co-operate with Includem staff
Often disenchanted with other professionals

• Includem workers
• Talk to you, not at you
•    Easy to get on with (like a friend that knows
  more)
•    Give practical and emotional support
•   Go the extra mile!
•   Take you out

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Conclusions
Targets combined with additional resources can
improve time-scales and assessments, but they may
lead to perverse incentives and negative
side-effects
Dangers in basing policy decisions on official
offending data? Official datadepend strongly
on police efforts and the willingness of victims
to report crime. They are also affected by
political and police priorities Van der Laan and
Smit 2006
Need to improve information exchange between
agencies and case tracking between childrens
hearings and adult CJ systems
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Conclusions
Young people who persistently offend have
multiple needs that affect behaviour and require
addressing along with attitudes, attributions etc.

• Support in the community for young people with
  the most
• serious difficulties needs to
• facilitate engagement and trust-building
• be very frequent and flexibly available
• focus on offending and needs and wishes
• be sustained over a considerable period often
  1 year plus

Mentors are a vital resource
Inter-agency co-operation is generally good and
has improved. Are health services a missing link?
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Selected References
Fast Track Hill, M., Walker, M., Wallace, B.,
Moodie, K., Khan, F., Kendrick, A. and McIvor, G.
(2005) Fast Track Childrens Hearings Pilot,
Scottish Executive, Edinburgh. Hill, M., Walker,
M., Wallace, B., Moodie, K., Khan, F., Kendrick,
A. and McIvor, G. (forthcoming 2008) More Haste
Less Speed? Youth Justice SCRA (2006) Further
Down the Track, SCRA, Stirling Includem Robertson
, L., Campbell, A., Hill, M. and McNeill, F.
(2006) Promoting desistance and resilience in
young people who offend, Journal of Criminal
Justice Studies, 12, 56-73. Other McNeill, F.
and Batchelor, S. (2004) Persistent Offending by
Young People, Issues in Criminal Justice
Monograph 3, London. Utting, D. and Vennard, J.
(2000) What Works with Young Offenders in the
Community? Barnardos, Barkingside. van der
Laan, P. and Smit, M. 2005 European Developments
in Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice',
in N. Axford, V. Berry, M. Little and L. Morpeth
(eds) Forty years of research, policy and
practice in children's services, Chichester
Wiley.