Community Orders > New Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO)

In Autumn 2009 the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill 2008 will introduce The Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO). This will be the new standard community sentence for young people who offend, and will combine a number of existing sentences into one sentence. It aims to simplify sentencing for young people, while improving the flexibility of interventions. See the YJB website for more details

Alongside the introduction of the YRO, the national Youth Justice Board will also introduce the new "Scaled Approach" National Standards. These new rules aim to develop a tiered approach to work with young offenders in order to ensure that the highest service levels go to the highest risk cases.

Research has shown that Supervision is more likely to be successful if we provide an intensity of intervention matched to the needs and risks which each young person has. Kirklees YOT has already begun to prepare for this important change, which should improve the safety of our communities and achieve better outcomes for the young people too.

The Youth Rehabilitation Order and Sentencing Flexibility

The YRO will be the new generic community sentence for children and young people who offend. Replacing nine existing sentences, it will combine 18 requirements into one generic sentence. Having 18 requirements within one Order will simplify sentencing, providing clarity and coherence while improving the flexibility of interventions.

The YRO also allows plenty of opportunity for reparation to be included, giving scope for victims’ needs to be addressed.

Additionally, the YRO will put Intensive Supervision and Surveillance and Intensive Fostering on a statutory footing. This will help encourage sentencers to use these robust alternatives to custody where they are available. To promote community sentencing, sentencers must now provide a reason if they do not use an alternative to custody for those young people who are on the custody threshold.

If used effectively, the YRO should not only help reduce reoffending, but should also contribute to a reduction in the number of young people in custody.

At least 60% of young people in the youth justice system have communication needs.

That could mean that over half of the young people you work with do not understand what people say to them or find it difficult to get their message across.  Click here to find out more.