New £3m project aims to reduce youth reoffending

The project aims to stop young people becoming "career criminals"

A £3m project will be launched in London in an effort to cut youth reoffending.

The scheme will work with offenders aged 18-25 who are on licence or probation, or doing community service.

They'll be able to go to a hub in Newham to access training, help with addiction and mental health support.

The pilot's being funded by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Mayor of London's office and could be rolled out in England and Wales if it works.

In January, the organisation responsible for inspecting jails criticised England and Wales' prison service.

The report said the service had, for more than a decade, failed to help young adult prisoners rehabilitate - putting communities at risk from reoffenders.

The MoJ says about a third of men aged 18-20 reoffend within a year. It's about a fifth for women of the same age.

The hub will help people who are on probation or doing community service

One of those women was Jai, who was arrested for the second time when she was 20.

She doesn't want to share the nature of the offence, which happened last year, but says she was given 260 hours community service and is on probation.

Speaking about her arrest, she says: "I was just thinking, I have children and I could be sent to prison.

"I was just like, oh my god, when I was sitting in that cell I realised it just wasn't worth it."

Jai is one of several young people who have been asked for their thoughts on the plans and she's cautiously optimistic that the hub will help.

"It might not work for everyone, but as long as a certain amount of people can get the right help, I feel like it will be great," she says.

'Reforming and improving'

Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Robert Buckland MP told Newsbeat projects like the hub are particularly important because of the pandemic.

"Covid has taught us a lot about the challenges that every system has to deal with, as well as the mental health challenges that all of us face, young people included.

"As we come out of the pandemic, it's not just about recovering services. It's about reforming them and improving them. I think that this hub is very much part of that."

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If it's successful, it will be rolled out further, he said.

"The hub will start in July, it'll work over the next two years or so.

"We'll be able to see from the hundreds of people who've taken apart to see how it works.

"From that, we can then roll it out more widely across England and Wales."

Nadine Smith, 24, is part of the Young Justice Advisors group. They've been talking to government officials about the hub.

"I think the pilot project is very important. But it also needs to be run in the right way," she tells us.

"The fact that the government is taking the steps to involve young adults in the design of this service, is a credit to them."

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