Our Mission - Transforming lives, reducing crime

CRIMINAL JUSTICE MATTERS

Latest News from your local Community Rehabilitation Company

Autumn edition



Our Vision

To become a
centre of
excellence in
protecting the
public through
the successful
rehabilitation of
offenders.

Chief Executive Officer
Jo Mead

Keeping You in the Picture
The Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland Community
Rehabilitation Company is committed to keeping sentencers regularly
updated on our work to reduce re-offending in our local communities,
writes Chief Executive Officer Jo Mead.
The Transforming Rehabilitation Programme
Since the change over from Probation Trusts to the Community
Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and a National Probation Service, our
CRC is now working with four significant offender groups.
1) Women offenders - the proportion of these cases is greater in the
CRC than the NPS, and are recognised as requiring a
differentiated service.
2) Young adult offenders aged 18 - 21, identified as less likely to
complete orders and licences and more likely to re-offend.
3) Domestic violence perpetrators who require both CRC
interventions and local multi-agency partnership work.
4) Prolific offenders who are targeted by the Integrated Offender
Management Teams. These teams include officers from
probation, police and other support agencies working with men
and women in the Criminal Justice System.

Review of women only community projects
This autumn edition of Criminal Justice Matters is going to highlight our
work across the three counties in regard to supervising women offenders
and addressing the factors that have contributed to their often repeat
offending.
Ministry of Justice statistics* gathered from women-only community
projects show that almost half of the women referred to these projects
have needs in more than four areas.
The figures show
48% have drug and alcohol problems
40% have experienced domestic violence, sexual abuse or rape
8% of women were involved in prostitution
52% of the women engaging with projects have children.

More on page 2


Our Mission - Transforming lives, reducing crime

































Keeping You in the Picture
Continued

Attendance at two of the partnership projects - the Just Women scheme
in Leicestershire and the Changes Project in Nottinghamshire - is
currently ordered by the Courts as a Specified Activity Requirement
(SAR). Engagement with the third partnership option, Turn Around in
Derbyshire, is on the recommendation of the supervising Offender
Manager.
In fact the engagement with the individual projects has been truly life
changing for some of the women, who have gone on to volunteer with
the particular scheme to maintain their contact and motivation.
Collating the results
A review of the re-offending figures shows that this approach is reducing
crime by women offenders. For example the Leicestershire project
followed a total of 125 participants, over an 18
th
month period, and out of
this number only 3 individuals had re-offended.

*Community Project figures taken from Women in the Penal System, a report
produced by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Women in the Penal System,
chaired by Baroness Corston.

Profile on Jo Mead
Jo Mead became the Chief Executive Officer of the CRC on June 1
st

2014. Before her latest appointment she had been the CEO of the
former Derbyshire Probation Trust for two years.

Early Connections
After gaining her Diploma in Probation Studies, Jo Mead began working
specifically with young adults. During her career she has worked directly
with offenders in a range of roles including a busy field team, in the
Courts and as part of a programmes team to challenge and change
offending behavior and attitudes.

The National Offender Management Service was created in 2004 and
Jo Mead joined the Government agency, eventually taking a
commissioning role covering the East Midlands. Her career then
progressed to a further public sector role as Head of Performance in
adult social care commissioning.


Feedback from sentencers

If you would like further information on the feature projects please email
your questions and comments to the CRCs communication team, Fiona
Buchanan and Sarah Brookes. Email addresses are:
Fiona.Buchanan@dlnr.probation.gsi.gov.uk
Sarah.Brookes@dlnr.probation.gsi.gov.uk



Our Mission - Transforming lives, reducing crime






























IN LEICESTERSHIRE
Information and edited commentary by Chief
Executive Officer Sara Swire of New Dawn, New
Day.

The Just Women Project is managed by the
charity New Dawn, New Day in partnership with
the DLNR CRC. The main site is the Womens
Centre, 27 Cantrell Road, Leicester, LE3 1SD.

Background information
The service was launched in April 2010 and
covers the geographical area of Leicester,
Leicestershire and Rutland. Two probation staff
members are co-located at the Womens Centre.

The aims of the project are to:
Reduce womens offending
Improve the lives of women with multiple
and complex needs.

How the project is funded
A contract with the CRC funds the Specified
Activity Requirement and the Big Lottery
Reaching Communities Programme provides
funding for preventative and aftercare work.
Money has also been received from the J Paul
Getty Jnr Charitable Trust to cover the costs of
preventative and aftercare work.

Categories of women who the project is
working with:
- Over the age of 18, who have offended or
considered at risk of offending
- Offenders given a Specified Activity
Requirement by the Courts
- Prisoners in the Peterborough Womens
Prison.

How the women only project reduces re-
offending
By providing a women-only service, we are able
to offer a safe and containing environment with a
range of specific activities to meet their needs.
The service is relationship based in that as well
as having a Probation Officer, all women are also
assigned a caseworker. The caseworker will
provide one-to-one support and advocacy to help
each individual woman to address their needs.

We work in partnership with our colleagues in
Health, Probation and the voluntary sectors to
deliver some of their services and offer health
improvement advice, peer mentoring,
employability programmes , on-site drug and
alcohol treatment appointments, mental health
crisis support and money guidance.


The women also are encouraged to attend group
activities and can access our counselling and
psychotherapy service to support and address
the longer term causes of their offending
behaviour. Group activities include parenting
groups, family learning, peer support, domestic
abuse programmes such as the Freedom
Programme, anger management, trauma
recovery programmes, creative arts, life skills
such as cooking on a budget and English and
Maths.

Figures to show effectiveness
Our engagement and completion rates for
women attending on a Specified Activity
Requirement are excellent; in the last full year
85% of women successfully completed their
orders, 95% of which completed within 12
months and 67% completing within 6 months. At
the end of the requirement, 95% of women were
in suitable and settled accommodation.

In terms of reoffending, using Police data
systems we were able to track a cohort of
women who had attended the Just Women
Project. Out of 125 women, who engaged with
the programme, only three had reoffended during
an 18 month period.


LEICESTERSHIRE CASE STUDY
W was married for 27 years to an abusive man.
She ended up alcohol dependent, homeless after
fleeing violence and had no one to turn to. She
was arrested for theft due to not having any
money.

W received a three week custodial sentence
and, on release from prison, she was homeless
and penniless. She felt very vulnerable at the
time and entered into another relationship that
became abusive.

Shortly afterwards W was arrested again for
theft and given a community sentence with the
Just Women Project.

She has since completed a 20 day Specified
Activity Order and fully engaged in the service,
attending a domestic abuse group and
counselling as well as other interventions. She is
now no longer drinking and has attended a Level
2 course in Community Development.

W has been accepted onto the Probation Peer
Mentoring training scheme and has worked
voluntarily on reception at New Dawn, New Day.




Our Mission - Transforming lives, reducing crime






























How the project is funded
The CRC commissioned the Nottingham
Womens Centre to run the project until 31 March
2015.

Who the project is working with
Women, aged over 18, with multi criminogenic
needs.

How the women only project reduces re-
offending
Womens offending is often linked to other
aspects of their lives. It is more effective to take
a holistic approach and consider the whole
person, rather than trying to isolate specific
areas and address these.

The modules of the Specified Activity
Requirement target the most common areas
linked to offending for women: anger
management, emotional wellbeing and healthy
relationships. By working through the different
modules, together with one-to-one supervision
from probation staff and engagement with a
caseworker, the women learn to examine areas
of their lives that are problematic and are
supported in making the necessary changes.

Additional factors such as on-site childcare
facilities, links with Womens Aid, which is a
counselling service, a variety of courses and
activities also help with compliance and
engagement.

A further advantage is that the centre is open to
all women, so once a womans order has ended,
she knows that she can continue to access help
and support, educational opportunities etc for as
long as she needs to.

The Changes Project is not an easy option in
that the same rules about compliance and
enforcement apply, but it enables us to take
account of the individuals personal
circumstances, to help empower women to make
changes for themselves.

Figures to show effectiveness
Initial research at the beginning of the
programme gave indications that annual re-
offending rates were 50 % lower in women who
attended the project, compared to female
offenders who did not.

Continued on page 5






IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

Information and edited commentary by Melanie
Jeffs, Manager at the Nottingham Womens
Centre, and Probation Officer Lesley Annison.

The Changes Project is managed with the
Nottingham Womens Centre in partnership with
DLNR CRC. The main address is 30 Chaucer
Street, Nottingham, NG1 5LP. The Women
Centres motto is Helping women achieve
amazing things and this project fits in well with
their maxim.

Background information
The project was launched in 2010 and offers a
service for the entire city and conurbation, as
well as running two days a week at the Nidas
Centre in Mansfield to provide engagement
opportunities in the Ashfield and Mansfield
areas. The two CRC staff members, assigned to
the project, work with the centres four
caseworkers and an education and training
advisor. There is also further support from a
housing and benefits expert.

The aims of Changes are to:
Provide a viable alternative to custody for
female offenders,
Reduce the risk of reoffending by
addressing the complex needs and
problems faced by the participants, and
Empower them to make better choices in
their lives.




Our Mission - Transforming lives, reducing crime

































IN DERBYSHIRE

Information and edited commentary by Dionne
Reid, Chief Executive Officer with Womens Work,
and Deborah Gray, Partnership Manager with the
CRC.

The Turn Around Project is managed in
partnership with the charity Womens Work
(Derbyshire) Ltd and the DLNR CRC. The projects
main address is The Villa, 30 Charnwood Street,
Derby. DE1 2GU.

The project, launched in December 2009, covers
the city of Derby and a satellite service also
operates in Ilkeston and Chesterfield.

How the project is funded
Funding is provided by the CRC and the Henry
Smith Foundation until March 2015.

Categories of women who the project is
working with
The project currently works with medium to low
risk women offenders on probation supervision
with the CRC. Many female offenders commit non-
violent offences.

Figures to show effectiveness
Out of a sample of 66 women, who attended the
project, only one participant had committed a
further crime in 12 months. The annual re-
offending rate for this sample was 1.52%. against
the predicted re-offending rate of 6.56%.


How the women only project reduces re-
offending
Women only community-based alternatives to
custody work to address the underlying causes of
offending behaviour. The project offers a holistic
support service, providing intensive one-to-one
engagement that is tailored to each individual
womans needs.

The projects support packages address all nine
resettlement pathways to divert women away
from crime and address the underlying causes of
offending behaviour.

The pathways include: family and relationships,
drug and alcohol misuse, attitudes, thinking and
behaviour, health and skills and employment.



Continued on page 6











Continued on page 6




NOTTINGHAMSHIRE CASE STUDY
(continued)

Ms A was sentenced to a Suspended Sentence
Order with supervision and specified activities of
Education, Training and Employment (ETE) and
Unpaid Work, which involved working in the
women centres community cafe. Ms A was
suffering from depression when she started her
supervision. She also felt very lonely and isolated.

Ms A found the cafe work stimulating and was
even offered the opportunity to supervise new
volunteers. She completed her ETE hours by
obtaining her Level 1 and 2 Food Hygiene
qualifications.

These additional skills gave her new employment
opportunities and her supervision and one-to-one
support has helped her find new interests,
improved her confidence and self esteem. Both of
which were factors in her offending.

She remains a regular visitor to the centre and has
remarked that the project was her life-saver.

Ms A continues to volunteer to help others, who
are in a similar position that she experienced at the
start of her sentence.
Ends



Our Mission - Transforming lives, reducing crime




















IN DERBYSHIRE
(continued)

The aims of the project are to:
- Reduce offending and re-offending amongst women in the Criminal Justice System and women at
risk of offending behaviour
- Address offending behaviour by targeting individual risk factors
- Identify and support the needs of women in regard to education, training, employment, relationships,
emotions and thinking skills, lifestyle and drugs in order to find solutions
- Promote inclusion and equity by enabling the take up of existing services by disadvantaged "hard to
reach" and less well served communities
- Work in partnership with neighbouring organisations to provide full support and advocacy
- Develop education and awareness.


DERBYSHIRE CASE STUDY (names have been changed)
Hannah was referred to the Turn Around project after being sentenced to probation supervision for an
assault offence. At the time of the referral Hannah was barely saying a word to anyone. It was evident
that Hannah was suffering with depression and had been deeply affected by the death of her little
brother, aged five months.

Her main needs were in relation to skills and employment and her low self-esteem and confidence. It
was apparent something had happened to Hannah to make her withdraw and doubt herself, but she
did not disclose any further details.

We jointly decided that Hannah would benefit from a confidence, communication and assertiveness
course. As she was not comfortable in group settings, Hannah went to the first session with a support
worker to help her with her nervousness and low confidence. She continued to attend and her self-
esteem began to develop as she started to contribute her opinions in the sessions. Hannah has now
completed three courses of the programme.

Hannah was also referred to the Learning Mentor who supported Hannah with her college work and
helped her to prepare for future interviews. They worked together on interview techniques and how to
respond to a range of questions.

Hannah has begun to open up a little more easily and has started to attend interviews for part-time
work opportunities.