This webinar will draw on lessons from an evaluation of a specialist Youth to Adulthood Transitions Hub to explore what this means for improving young adult probation practice more broadly.
Young adults (18-25-year olds) in the criminal justice system are receiving focused attention across a number of jurisdictions with existing arguments calling for this age cohort to be treated as a distinct group. This presentation is based on a two-year Ministry of Justice funded evaluation of a specialist young adult probation Hub in Newham, East London. The Hub was designed as a co-located, multi-disciplinary teamworking model including probation practitioners and commissioned services, such as mentoring and coaching, mental health and well-being and speech and language communication support. Qualitative interviews were completed with 60 probation and external partner services staff and 35 young adults over three fieldwork phases. Through analysis of the longitudinal qualitative data, the key benefits of this bespoke young adult probation service are highlighted, the ways staff experienced working in this specialist service and how young adults’ on probation engaged with it. The webinar will conclude with considerations of what it means for improving young adult probation practice more broadly.