ISSP

ISSP stands for Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme and aims to reduce offending among a small group of young people who commit large numbers of offences.  It is an extremely rigorous intervention which as the name suggests combines very high levels of community based surveillance with a comprehensive and sustained focus on tackling the factors that contribute to a young person's offending behaviour.

Some Facts about Persistent Young Offenders

• 3 per cent of young people commit 30 per cent of the youth crime.
• Over 90 per cent of persistent young offenders locally have very poor links with education provision.
• Lifestyle factors and employment, education and training are the most common underlying causes of offending in this group.
• In excess of 90 per cent of PYOs are male and white.
• Most common offences committed by this group are theft of motor vehicle, burglary and theft.
• A third of this group have significant difficulties with drugs, particularly heroin use.   

Most young people will spend six months on ISSP. All young people are rigorously assessed prior to being offered a place on ISSP. The most intensive supervision (25 hours a week) lasts for the first three months of the programme. Following this the supervision continues at a reduced intensity for a further three months

The main focus throughout the six-month period is on improving education attainment, changing attitudes towards offending and improving the lifestyle of the young person. Young people are also required to make reparation to the victim and/or the community. Family support is also made available. In addition to the supervised contact young people are made subject to community surveillance. Which, involves four elements:

• Tracking -  Young people are visited by staff at home to ensure their whereabouts are known during the evening.
• Tagging -  Young people are electronically monitored to ensure that they remain indoors during the night.
• Voice Verification -  Young people are required to phone so that a computer based voice print check can be made to confirm that they are in given places at given times.
• Intelligence Led Policing -  Links are made with local community beat police officers so that information or concerns can be shared between ISSP staff and the police and appropriate action taken.

ISSP is available to young people who have committed five imprisonable offences during the previous twelve months and who have already had the opportunity to change their behaviour in less structured ways. In addition young people who have committed 'one-off' serious crimes and those who commit offences on bail can also be involved in the programme.

How do offenders get on to the programme and what happens if they don't do what they are told?

There are three ways that young people can access ISSP:

1. As part of a bail condition, where young people continue to offend while waiting to be sentenced by the Court for other offences;
2. As part of a Court ordered Supervision Orders
3. As part of a condition when a young person is released from prison.   

Should a young person fail to co-operate with the programme offered, the ISSP Team will take the young person back to Court and the Magistrates can consider sending them to prison.