More support to prevent young adults being pulled into a cycle of crisis and crime

North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner is entering a new partnership to support young adults being pulled into a cycle of crisis and crime.

Working with North Yorkshire Police and charities, the partnership will be led by the Revolving Doors Agency and is aimed at improving the life chances for young people across York and North Yorkshire.

Only eight per cent of offenders in non-violent crimes, such as theft and minor drug offences, currently receive meaningful diversionary or educational activity. Research shows that investing in that support can prevent repeat offending, reducing crime, getting young peoples’ lives back on track and helping communities be safer.

North Yorkshire will now be one of six pilot areas developing diversionary pathways for young adults alongside Humberside, Leicestershire, South Yorkshire, West Midlands and Cleveland.

Across these police force areas, organisations will work together to build intelligence about the local needs, foster partnerships with charities and young people to develop a system wide approach to address trauma and poverty and support the local police and court-led diversion services.

Julia Mulligan, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, said:

Growing evidence shows that structured and well-managed diversion away from court achieves better results, both for individuals and for the safety of our community as a whole. The traditional approach of sending people to court for minor offences is not working and often actually makes things worse. We need to be helping those who offend to reform and address underlying trauma so they stop offending once and for all.

We have already seen success with our Women’s Diversion Scheme in North Yorkshire and welcome the opportunity to explore how we can expand this success to more people, including young adults, who offend due to unmet needs or vulnerabilities.

I am delighted to be working with Revolving Doors and pooling learning with other areas to create an improved response to low level crime in North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire Assistant Chief Constable Annette Anderson said:

North Yorkshire Police has been developing plans to increase its focus on prevention and early intervention with the aim of diverting people from the criminal justice system. We can be more effective if we intervene early and give people hope for their future rather than criminalising them. This benefits individuals, families and whole communities.

The involvement of Revolving Doors in this work will bring the expertise of an experienced partner which will further enhance the multi-agency approach that is central to the success of this enterprise.

Nathan Dick from the Revolving Doors Agency said:

We are delighted to spearhead a strong coalition that will create a once in a generation opportunity to prevent the cycle of crisis and crime.

We know repeat low-level offending is driven by poverty, trauma and discrimination. These are crimes of despair.  If we address the causes of crime, we will make communities safer and free up our police to deal with more serious, organised and violent crime.