Nicholas Pamment

Overcoming the challenges of researching ‘young offenders’: using assisted questionnaires – a research note

This short research note discusses some of the challenges involved when undertaking qualitative research with ‘young offenders’, a neglected area within the methodological literature. By drawing on previous research with ‘young offenders’, the author discusses how the use of traditional face‐to‐face interviews produced a number of research challenges which are specific to the psychosocial, biographical and institutional contexts of this particular population. In attempting to overcome some of these challenges in her current research, the author developed a specific research tool – the assisted questionnaire (AQ) – and the remainder of this article describes how its use with ‘young offenders’ helped to overcome some of the methodological challenges which had earlier been identified.

A Retrograde Step: The Potential Impact of High Visibility Uniforms within Youth Justice Reparation

The Labour government has recently introduced uniforms for adult offenders undertaking community service as part of their community orders. There have also been calls within the youth justice arena to introduce uniforms to young offenders undertaking reparation. Through observations, interviews and questionnaires with young offenders and their supervising staff, we argue that the introduction of uniforms will be counterproductive on a number of levels. In short, it would be a retrograde step. We conclude with a suggestion on how to increase the visibility of unpaid work by offenders within the community, without the negative impact of uniforms.

Public Protection in Youth Justice? The Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme from the inside:

In 2001, the Youth Justice Board of England & Wales introduced the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP). It was quickly hailed as the most robust community-based sanction available for the most serious and persistent young offenders. However, it has been dogged by high reconviction rates. This paper undertakes first a review of the international evidence base for the effectiveness of all types of intensive supervision, before focusing specifically on its effectiveness within youth justice. It then presents our findings from fieldwork (participant observation, interviews and questionnaires) carried out within two Youth Offending Teams, comparing the views of supervisors and the supervised young offenders. The conclusions show that ISSP is not founded on sound evidence. Our own evidence suggests a number of reasons why ISSP does not work, and is not likely to, in its present form. Most importantly, it is clear that ISSP cannot provide the level of public protection claimed with such a severe offending group, and therefore does not aid the realistic promotion of greater use of community sentences. The article makes suggestions for an alternative approach to dealing with serious and persistent offenders in the community, based on the views of the young offenders subject to ISSP and the staff who supervise them.

Realising the Potential: The Research Evidence Base for Unpaid Work

This chapter reviews and integrates the research evidence base for unpaid work. It begins by examining national reconviction data relating to the adult Community Service Order (CSO), before exploring the quality and findings of the few studies which have investigated the re-integrative potential of this sanction. The chapter then turns to the youth justice Reparation Order (RO), examining recidivism rates from official statistics and previous research studies. It concludes by identifying both the extent to which policy and practice match the evidence base, and the extent to which they are lacking. It also concludes that there is a paucity of high quality research into community reparation for young offenders.

Reintegration to Retribution: The Development of Unpaid Work for Offenders in England and Wales

This chapter provides a critique of the historical, political and legislative development of both adult community service (CS) and youth justice community reparation (YJCR). It outlines the development of the Community Service Order (CSO) for adult offenders, charting its transformation from a re-integrative alternative to custody in 1972, to punishment in the community through the Criminal Justice Act 1991. It goes on to discuss the major implications of the burgeoning popular punitiveness that developed in relation to young offenders in the early 1990s; the introduction by New Labour of the Crime and Disorder Act (1998) and most importantly, the introduction of community reparation for young offenders. It concludes by stressing the need to rediscover the rehabilitative benefits of getting offenders to undertake unpaid work.

Youth Justice Community Reparation in Practice

This chapter presents the results of the primary research study and due to the multi-methods design, it integrates the findings from both the quantitative and qualitative methods used. The secondary data obtained from Youth Offending Team (YOT) case files is presented first, followed by the primary data obtained from participant observation, assisted questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Key themes covered include participants’ perceptions of skills acquisition; problem solving; punishment; benefits for the community; reparation and attitudes towards re-offending. It uncovers serious inadequacies and failings regarding the organisation and delivery of the disposal.

Conclusion: The Future Direction of Youth Justice Community Reparation

This chapter discusses the main conclusions that can be drawn from the research. It begins with a discussion of the key themes and findings from the earlier chapters, presenting established principles for the successful delivery of unpaid work for offenders. The chapter then goes on to assess the extent to which Youth Justice Community Reparation delivery in practice matches the evidence base. Finally, based on the key findings, it highlights major implications for future practice and identifies important areas for further research.