Early intervention Flashcards
What evidence is there that Scotland tries to operate an early intervention model?
In Scotland, the Early and Effective Intervention programme is underpinned
by the principles of GIRFEC (Getting it right for every child) and the UNCRC
(United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child) and is a whole system
approach where agencies work together to try and prevent offending
taking place. For example, Police Scotland produced their ‘Children and
Young People: Our Approach’ report which outlined how they work with
agencies including schools, hospitals, communities and social work to try
and achieve early and effective intervention.
The Early Intervention Foundation estimated that ‘late intervention’ costs
England and Wales almost ____ __________ a year on services such as the
criminal justice system, hospitalisation and incarceration.
£17 billion
The Centre for Youth Crime and Justice stated that …
‘Children
who start offending or demonstrating significant emotional and
behavioural difficulties under 12 years are two to three times more likely
to become involved in persistent and serious or violent offending than
their peers’
What is Chance UK?
Chance UK is an example of an early intervention programme that focuses
on providing children with mentors. Parents or teachers can make a
referral if a child is suffering behavioural difficulties and the child meets
with a mentor. They do activities and the mentors are all trained in
dealing with trauma-based issues. Chance UK state that in 2020, 93% of the
children they worked with had decreased behavioural problems in school.
In the long run, this helps to prevent crime taking place as children with
behavioural problems in school are more likely to become involved in risky
behaviour or offending
What is New Zealand’s equivalent of Chance UK.
In New Zealand, there is a similar approach called
TYLA (Turn Your Life Around). It was started because it was estimated that
one in twenty young people in New Zealand were known to the police
before the age of 14. TYLA uses one-to-one mentoring to try and show
young people a positive future and to prevent offending. Both the New
Zealand and UK Governments believe that having a mentor can balance out
the influence of anti-social peers and have a positive effect on reducing
offending.
No Knives, Better Lives is an example of how an early
intervention programme can be successful. Why?
No Knives, Better Lives has
been praised as helping make Scotland a safer place for young people. The
programme educated young people in schools and communities about the
dangers of carrying a knife. Over the ten-year period after No Knives,
Better Lives started, the number of crimes of handling an offensive
weapon recorded by police in Glasgow decreased by 71%.
What evidence is there that prevention is better than cure?
the Scottish Prison Service costing the Scottish
Government over £400 million each year and, according to the Howard
League for Penal Reform, the economic and social costs of reoffending in
Scotland costing around £3 billion a year, it is clear that there is a need to
understand and tackle the causes of crime rather than focusing on the
punishment of offenders.
