Reoffending Rates

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 19 June 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 2:05, 19 June 2018

Well, youth offending teams have played a significant role in reducing reoffending amongst young people. They've looked to support prevention, early intervention and diversion. As someone with significant experience in representing young people at the sharp end in the courts, what I would find is, yes, they can quite often get released from a young offenders' institution, having had training, but they fall back into the same peer group and into the same habits. So, yes, training is hugely important—I very much welcome what's been done at Prescoed—but also, of course, those teams will know that it's hugely important to move people away from a peer group that might have got them into trouble in the first place, and often away from drugs as well, because the rate of reoffending with people who have abused drugs is enormously high. So, I think it's a holistic approach that's needed, but what he's described as happening in his own constituency is a hugely important part of that approach.