Youth offending

 

The Youth Offending Service - YOS - has overall responsibility for policy formulation, co-ordination and service delivery to those young people who come into conflict with the law or are at risk of offending behaviour. The YOS is a statutory service and has the responsibility for overseeing the attendance at local courts.

 

 

To support and manage young people involved in the criminal justice system within the local area working alongside other agencies and families.  This service is primarily for 10 to 17 year olds but will work with younger children as and when required.

 

We aim to offer innovative and effective ways of working with the emphasis on the prevention of re-offending. The YOS will undertake work to prevent young people from offending in the first instance.  We believe that one of the best ways of reducing crime is to stop young people getting into trouble in the first place.  We try to identify and help these young people as early as possible – we believe that gives us the best chance of making a real difference.

 

 

By working with multiple agencies, the YOS will be able to identify young people already known to the agencies as being most at risk of offending and will work with them to encourage them towards more positive activities.