Using a SportPlus approach to improve support and outcomes for young people in or at risk of entering the Youth Justice System

The £5 million Ministry of Justice programme (2022) used sport to enhance positive outcomes for vulnerable young people in the context of youth crime.

28 Aug 2024

Introduction

The fund supported 220 voluntary and community sports organisations (collectively referred to as Locally Trusted Organisations or LTOs) to carry out targeted community work in numerous local authorities, supporting children and young people who were at risk of entering the criminal justice system. Sport is increasingly recognised as having a role in prevention and early intervention work with children at risk of, or already involved in, offending behaviour. Although sport was unlikely to stop offending by itself, it has the potential to make a positive contribution.

The challenge

Reducing crime and anti-social behaviour is a long-standing public policy concern which has become more acute as rates of incidence increase and the prison population in the UK continues to rise. Youth crime alone costs the taxpayer £1.5billion a year and research reveal that over three quarters of adult prolific offenders received their first caution or conviction as a juvenile.[1]

In the year ending December 2022 girls comprised of 16 per cent of first time entrants into the youth justice system and across both sexes, ethnic minorities accounted for 24 per cent.

It is now recognised that many children and young people who offend have experienced multiple disadvantages and that contact with the criminal justice system can compound this disadvantage further. Supporting vulnerable young people at risk of involvement in crime, anti-social behaviour and serious violence is critical, especially those who present ‘risk factors’ such as school exclusion, prior involvement with the police, or other challenging socio-economic circumstances.

A greater focus on trauma-informed approaches such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has led to the adoption of child-first practices within Youth Justice. These seek to mitigate the harm that can arise from offending behaviours by developing pro-social (Pro-social is the opposite to anti-social and uses positive behaviours, attitudes, and decision-making) identities that aim to prevent offending and create safer communities. These approaches are reliant on developing supportive and empowering relationships with children focused on fulfilling their potential and making positive contributions to society.[2]

The solution

Sport and physical activity has long been utilised as a cost-effective tool to address criminal justice issues, whether to prevent, divert or rehabilitate,[3] and there is a growing evidence base which highlights the strong potential of sport, when used alongside other mechanisms, as an effective intervention tool with young people both in the community and within the secure estate.[4]

This approach is known as a SportPlus principle which can best be explained by simply accepting that the act of participating in sport and physical activity becomes the vehicle for providing support to a young person with a wider (and often deeper) set of vulnerabilities and needs. The activity is specifically designed to enable the young person to benefit not only from the regular participation in physical activity but to address particular issues a young person/group of young people may be vulnerable to. Factors considered when designing SportPlus activity often include: the time, location and modality of activity; the training, skills and competence needed of a coach/trusted adult; and the contextual safeguarding environment activity will be delivered within.

For example, LTOs like Ride High, a charity based in Milton Keynes, engages young people through opportunities to learn to ride and care for horses. Referrals are made by a range of organisations including the Local Authority, Child, and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), counsellors and bereavement support services, police, the Youth Offending Team (YOT), the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS), the British Red Cross and refugee support programmes. Great care is taken to ensure the young person is guided into the appropriate activity including riding lessons and equine care, that supports their unique needs and experiences, alongside working on themed projects which provide targeted support in the ‘club room’. The significant value of the approach is that young people are trusted to work with animals when they had previously been let down by the adults in their lives.[5]

More case studies can be found in the Sport for Development Coalition’s policy document Getting on Track.

In 2023, the UK Government’s Ministry of Justice invested £5 million into a Youth Justice Sport Fund to support 218 LTOs and other voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations across England and Wales to conduct targeted work supporting vulnerable young people, aged 10-17, considered to be at risk of being involved in crime, anti-social behaviour and serious violence crime and violence. Using local sporting activities as a vehicle to address problem behaviour and as a diversionary tool to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour, the fund aimed to increase the capability of sport sector delivery organisations to work effectively with their local criminal justice partners, including Youth Justice Services, Police and Police Crime Commissioners (PCC)/Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) structures. This work focused on building sustainable relationships for the medium to longer term to facilitate potential future access to the new ‘Turnaround’ programme and other funding.

The impact

While the MOJ project timeline was too short to highlight an official impact on offending, the project focused on targeting the right young people and engagement with YOTs and other stakeholders. To this end the project was successful in engaging with almost 8,000 young people experiencing a number of inequalities and who are often underserved. For example:

More than 400 projects submitted applications for funding and 220 projects were awarded funding after an intensive review process to provide a SportPlus approach to supporting young people in or at risk of entering the youth justice system.7,832 young people were involved in the programme with a total of 68,741 attendances during the intervention period.

Football was the most provided sport (68 per cent of organisations), followed by boxing (50 per cent), multi-sport (48 per cent) and gym fitness (42 per cent). In some projects the choice of sport was driven by consultation with the young people. Projects also integrated the ‘plus’ activities into their work. ‘Plus’ activities included mentoring, formal or informal workshops or discussions about areas such as consequences of involvement in crime or gangs, drugs and alcohol, the role of a community and making healthy and positive choices.

In terms of reach, of the 7,832 young people engaged 82 per cent came from the most deprived communities within the bottom four IMD deciles. Most participants (88 per cent) were aged between 10 and 17 years and 48 per cent were aged between 13 to 15 years old. Most participants (77 per cent) were male and 22 per cent were female, whilst 44 per cent of young people were from an ethnically diverse background including 18 per cent from a black background. Additionally, 12 per cent of young people engaged in the programme had learning difficulties.

Of the organisations involved: 88 per cent engaged young people excluded from school or college, 76 per cent engaged young people with mental health issues, 63 per cent engaged young people associated with gangs and 57 per cent engaged with young people in care/care leavers. More than half of the organisations engaged young people who had been arrested or cautioned in the last three months whilst 44 per cent of organisations engaged with young people who had been a victim of abuse. Other ‘vulnerabilities’ included: substance misuse, parents with addictions, Special Educational Needs, bereavement, sexual exploitation, learning difficulties, disabilities, being groomed into gangs, missing episodes, and homelessness.

In terms of the sources of formal referral routes, the majority came from educational establishments (82 per cent), this was then followed by youth justice services (39 per cent), early help hubs (23 per cent) and the police (23 per cent). It is encouraging that 88per cent of organisations stated that they were working with young people who were not attending or who had been excluded from school or college as not attending school is associated with offending and being recruited to gangs. Informal referrals are valuable in helping to recruit ‘at risk’ young people who would not choose to take part in more formal intervention programmes as well as those who might not be known to statutory agencies. Delivery organisations reported that engagement levels had improved from an average of 2.7 at the start of the project to 3.3 at its conclusion.

How is it being sustained?

While the fund itself did not progress to a second year, many of the underpinning ideas continue to be developed in collaboration with VRUs, Police and Crime Commissioners and others. There is a growing recognition that sport and physical activity, when delivered in the right way, can have clear pro-social outcomes for at risk young people.

Many LTO’s continue to use the SportPlus approach to tackle youth anti-social behavior and crime as a part of their normal prevention activities. Core to these interventions is the Theory of Change developed by StreetGames in partnership with leading academics, which outlines the ingredients needed for successful sport-based interventions in a community safety context. This Theory of Change can be also applied to local authority initiatives to maximise impact.

Lessons learned

Secondary level (also known as ‘early intervention’ by some referral agencies) SportPlus intervention programmes are well-suited for referrals by agencies such as schools, the police, youth justice services and early help services. They can include one of more of the following: regular sports activity and playing sessions which are targeted (e.g. in terms of local area ‘hot spots’ and specific groups of young people), volunteering and one to one sport-based mentoring.

For young people who have offended, sport can provide a twin-track approach that leads them out of the Youth Justice System and towards activities that build strengths, capacities, and potential, whilst emphasising positive behaviours and outcomes. In particular, the opportunities for engagement and for ‘relationship building’, in and through sport, provides a valuable medium through which to offer this twin-track approach to empower young people to develop social capital and pro-social identities.

Sports Activity and Playing sessions at a secondary intervention level should provide sport or physical activity activities that are designed purposefully to provide fun and positive opportunities for personal development and growth for young people including achievements. It can be based on providing a single sport or physical activity such as boxing, football, martial arts, or dance or it can be based around a multi-sport approach, providing a wide range of sports for young people to play at the same session.

This programme demonstrated that a SportPlus approach offers more opportunities to undertake meaningful work with young people experiencing high levels of challenge in their lives and enabled staff to build a strong rapport with young people. It also enhances young people’s skills and knowledge and provides access to additional support.