Youth Offending Our principal aim is to prevent offending by children and young people aged 10 to 17. We confront young offenders with the consequences of their behaviour and we tackle the causes of their behaviour to prevent re-offending. We also provide programmes of early intervention to prevent young people at risk of involvement in crime from becoming offenders.
The service is for young offenders aged between 10 and 17 and their families, as well as young people at risk aged between 8 and 17.
Our work
Our multi-agency team is made up of staff from probation, police, education, youth service,  Southwark Primary Care Trust and social services. Our teams deliver a range of services.
The court service
The court service provides a duty service to the court and supervises young offenders subject to court-ordered interventions
Prevention
We work in a preventative role with young people aged 13 to 17 at risk of involvement in crime. Our work comes from self-referrals as well as referrals from parents, council services, the police and courts.
Our prevention work includes
- Encouraging young people to participate in personal development work through what we call ‘magnet activities’ - which could be sport, drama or creative arts
- Working with groups of disaffected pupils in schools to reduce truancy and exclusions and tackle gang membership
- Engaging children looked after by the council to prevent future involvement in offending behaviour
- Running a Youth Inclusion Project in the Elephant and Castle area
The early intervention team
We work with children and young people aged between 8 and 13, who have been referred by schools or social services as being at risk of involvement in crime. We work with young people who receive a police reprimand or final warning - either through individual sessions, in groups or with families. We also have a mentoring scheme.
The on track project
The on track project works in ten primary schools in Southwark providing a multi-agency package of support for children aged 4 to 12 and their families.
 Confronting offending behaviour
We provide bail supervision and intensive supervision and surveillance programmes. We also work proactively by offering drugs counselling, mental health assessments and interventions and social and cognitive skills training.
Not just for offenders
Our outreach work includes organising victim and offender conferences and running a community reparation scheme (where the offender gives something back to the victim or community). We also organise groups for parents of young offenders.
Contact
Youth Offending Team
Tel: 020 7525 0900
Fax: 020 7525 7876
1 Bradenham Close
London
SE17 2QB
Opening hours: 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday |