Courts urged to use alternative to remand

I was gutted, but it does help you,” says 17-year-old Rab Williams, of the electronic tag that he wore as part of a four-month curfew.

The curfew stopped him leaving the house between 5pm and 9pm. It had a significant effect on his offending, which largely took place on Friday and Saturday nights when he had been drinking.

“It was drinking in the street, gang fighting, theft and all that,” he says of his criminal record. “I was caught with a machete in school,” he adds.

That was on one of the rare occasions he attended. The teenager from Ibrox, Glasgow, hardly attended his secondary school.

This autumn he will start a course at the city’s Metropolitan College to learn to be a shopfitter, after returning to education through the Intensive Support and Monitoring Service (ISMS) set up in Glasgow in 2005.

Attending ISMS gave Rab a second chance at education, alcohol counselling, cognitive therapy to address his offending and alternative activities when he would normally have been drinking with pals. Others envy the way he’s been able to turn his life around, he says. “My pals aren’t doing anything now, they don’t have jobs or anything. They all want to get into this.”

Today, the city council’s social care division will launch a new programme that will extend ISMS to support the courts. The service has been welcomed by children’s panels whose members often despaired of young men like Rab. Now it is hoped sheriffs will use the option instead of sending young people to secure accommodation on remand.

Sean McKendrick, manager of intensive services and youth justice, explains: “I think panel members had no place to dispense with their concerns about young people other than sending them to secure care or leaving them at significant risk back in the community. We were able to say we can offer you a range of other options which could go up to as much as 50 hours a week.”

However, while use of secure care by children’s panels has been cut, the courts have tended to take up the slack, McKendrick says. “Despite the reduction in use of secure by the children’s hearing system, sheriffs have been remanding other young people to secure beds and using the spare capacity.”

If sheriffs could be persuaded to take a different approach it could potentially save local authorities in the area hundreds of thousands of pounds. But it will also cut crime, the council believes.

Recent research shows that the multi-agency initiative has achieved significant and sustained reductions in offending behaviour by drawing upon expertise in social work, education, forensic mental health, addiction services and the voluntary sector. It delivers support seven days a week and up to 24 hours a day where necessary.

Results from the first few years of ISMS show that it is a better option than remand, McKendrick says. “We can offer something that is effective and can bring about change. We would never claim to be a service that can stop young people offending. But if we are reducing their behaviour and increasing their chance to be productive, that is a precursor to change.”

Nina Vaswani, researcher with Glasgow Youth Justice Services, adds: “If young people are remanded to secure accommodation they can’t do a lot about offending but we can offer someone help to change their behaviour earlier than otherwise happens.”

Vaswani’s figures show that six months after attending ISMS, rates of offending by participants are down nearly 60%. The main group of 43 surveyed committed 83 offences per month between them, so the impact on the volume of offending is significant. Educationally their circumstances had improved with 96% emerging with access level qualifications in maths, and 88% achieving access level English. Tools designed to measure the level of risk to young people themselves and their wellbeing also showed significant improvement.

The council believes the evaluation results demonstrate that high-risk young people can be safely managed in the community. With an ISMS placement costing £1000 a week while secure care costs £5000 a week, the ISMS service is cost-effective as well.

Sheriff Alan Miller, former Principal Reporter of the Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration, will speak at today’s launch but it remains to be seen whether other sheriffs will be convinced.

Councillor Archie Graham, Executive Member for Social Care Services, hopes they will: “Placing young people in remand comes with a huge cost, not only financially but also in respect of the impact it has on the individuals concerned,” he said. “Education, training or employment are disrupted or lost and the support which can make a difference is often difficult to access.”

David Williams, Assistant Director for Social Care Services, said: “ISMS has been successful as an alternative to secure care for young people, delivering a significant reduction in offending as well as bringing down the number of people being placed in secure care. The reduction in offending has been sustained over a long period.

“We are confident our success with ISMS can be translated into a robust alternative for those facing remand through the courts.”