Speech

1
Speech Language Therapy has an impact on the
Criminal Justice System by reducing crime and
re-offending.

• Steven Boyd
• Speech Language Therapist
• HMYOI Hindley
• Ashton Leigh Wigan PCT

2
What is the evidence

• At the moment there is no published evidence that
  states SLT intervention reduces Crime and
  Re-Offending
• An abundance of Research to state that there is a
  link between difficult and challenging behaviour
  and poor speech, language and/or communication
  difficulties

3
What is the evidence

• Bercow stated
• If a child does not benefit from early
  intervention, there are multiple risks
• One of which being a descent into criminality
• Therefore it is the Early Interventions
  professionals responsibility!

4
Youth Crime Action Plan

• Government plan developed to tackle Youth Crime
• Proposes the following
• increasing the proportion of ASBOs accompanied by
  Parenting Orders
• making permanent exclusion from school an
  automatic trigger for a Common Assessment
  Framework (CAF) assessment of needs

5
Breaking the Cycle

• Children who commit minor offences often stop
  offending because they fear more serious
  consequences and they have sufficient support
  from their parents, peers and mainstream services
  (such as their school)

• Young people further involved in the Youth
  Justice System are frequently well known to local
  services through instability at home or in
  education and have needs that have not been met
  earlier

6
Breaking the Cycle (cont.)

• The government state the social context of these
  young people needs to change
• Improve education and training for young
  offenders to ensure that they receive education
  and training which is consistent, tailored to
  meet their personal needs and underpinned by high
  quality teaching.

7
SLT in the Prison

• Sense of Community
• History of Poor Engagement with Community
  Services
• Entrenched criminal lifestyles and lack of
  pro-social peers

8
SLT in the Prison

• Prison regime
• Release and Resettlement
• Access to community services

9
Treating Offenders

• In HMYOI Hindley all Offending Treatment
  programmes are language based (e.g. Enhanced
  Thinking Skills VOPS SOTP etc)
• All packages are language based
• Home Office Directives
• Application forms

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11
Ethical Implications of SLT

• Improving the communication skills of some
  offenders will make them better offenders
• Profile of Young People who commit Sexual
  Offenders
• Average to Low Average IQ
• Poor Social Relationships
• Poor Social Communication Skills

12
Conclusion

• Speech Language Therapy, ALONE, does NOT reduce
  Crime and Re-offending

13
Recommendations

• To help with reducing Crime and Re-Offending the
  SLT can
• Redesign Early Intervention and Community
  Services to meet the needs of the Communities
  they serve
• Work with Young People where Young People are
• Develop inclusive Community Services and Agencies
  to have inclusive Services both Inside and
  Outside of Custody
• Develop and promote SLT services and the image of
  the Profession
• Greater Research and Evidence basing by already
  over stretched and over worked SLTs working with
  offenders