The court film is about young people with a learning disability and how they handle going to court and the criminal justice system. Raising Your Game staff learnt that young people needed this from their work with young people. The film is for young people with and without a learning disability between the ages of 14 and 25 who are going to court. Many issues are shared in the film. The film tells their experiences in their own words. 

We made the film because we have also found that professionals within the criminal justice system (CJS) saw that young people needed more support. 

My role on the film as a whole was the advisor and making sure the other actors were not nervous. I did not have to do much because the other actors were not nervous. I sat in on the meetings about the making of the film and behind the scenes. The first meeting I went to about the film was with Katy, the marketing officer and the filmmaker Anne, to talk about the first steps of making it. I went to nearly all the meetings and the meeting when the animator came. It was interesting. I gave advice on the court room scenes, like looking at some cartoons with scenes in court and how we could do something similar. The court film was good fun to make. My role as an extra was good because I was only in one scene; the waiting room scene, where you look at your watch on the mobile phone as if you’re in a waiting room, waiting, and I was asked to go into the toilet as if someone was walking past, but I had to go to the toilet anyway!  

Outdoor filming for My Safe Life

Last week I did some filming with Mencap about *My Life; My Safe Life. I spoke about my experiences about being safe so everyone knows what to do when they want to know about being safe. I talked about looking after your money when out on the streets; it doesn’t matter if you’re on your own or with your friend’s just try to look after yourself.

 I also talked about people that can help you to be safe like your mum and dad or brothers and sisters, boyfriends girlfriends, fiancés, best friends, pets (like guide dogs) police, work colleagues, social workers, they should be people you can trust, like your best friend. A spoke about mate crime, mate crime is somebody that you think you can trust but they take advantage. That friendship comes to a full stop. 

*My Life is Mencap’s consultation on ways of looking at the areas of life that people with a learning disability and their families said were really important. Each My Life looks at particular issues affecting people with a learning disability and their families at different times in their lives. For more information visit http://mylife.mencap.org.uk/

Joanne Moore explains why she loves her new role as Raising Your Game’s training officer

I really enjoyed working with the young people. I started working for Raising Your Game in 2010, as the regional coordinator for East Kent. But my passion lies in writing and delivering training – it always gives me a buzz when I see the penny drop and they understand a concept for the first time.

My role changed in November 2011. I am now Raising Your Game’s training officer, which means I am responsible for the production of all the materials the coordinators use with the young people, as well as any training Raising Your Game is asked to deliver outside of the project.

We have been developing the My Life training. Everything that the young people told us is important to them will be incorporated into Raising Your Game’s training for young people.

They wanted to learn about using money wisely, which will be part of the Building My Life module. And they wanted to know more about how to access leisure facilities, which will be included in Enjoying My Life and My Healthy Life.

I make the sessions fun. Once the modules have been planned, my job is to write the sessions and find or make up activities that are accessible and enjoyable for the wide range of young people we meet at the Raising Your Game workshops. At the moment, I am devising an activity on how to decide which bills should be paid first.

Choosing My Life has been running for a while. This module is all about the criminal justice system and is accredited by the National Open College Network. We currently have 145 young people going through the course across the country. The others – My Healthy Life, Enjoying My Life, People in My Life and Building My Life – are being piloted across the regions at the moment.

I have also been involved in Talk about Talk – the communication difficulty awareness training for professionals. I have been supporting I CAN on developing the content and analysing the feedback from the pilots, as well as supporting the young people who deliver it. Plus, I co-wrote Mencap’s one-hour coffee break learning disability awareness training and trained the coordinators to deliver it.

I am proud when I see the young people present these training sessions. The feedback from professionals is always that the young people’s personal stories and experiences will affect their work and preconceptions in the future. My proudest moment was seeing one of our young people co-deliver a workshop at a National Council for Voluntary Youth Services national event. This young person attended one of East Kent’s first groups, progressed to be a volunteer and now works part-time as a project support assistant on Raising Your Game.

I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. No day is ever the same, and I can see the difference Raising Your Game is making to young people’s lives. I really love my job.

Contact Joanne on 07949 264 877 or email joanne.moore@mencap.org.uk

The achievements of young people from Raising Your Game were celebrated at a ceremony at Windsor Castle in March.

The 15 young people, from across England, were presented with The Duke of Edinburgh’s (DofE) Bronze Award, which they achieved through Raising Your Game. Their certificates were awarded by chief executive of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Charity, Peter Westgarth.

The DofE Award is open to young people aged 14–24, and helps them acquire skills and increase their physical wellbeing. It has three levels – Bronze, Silver and Gold – and the Bronze Award has four sections – volunteering, physical, skills and expedition.

The young people had to do a minimum of three months’ activity for each of the volunteering, physical and skills sections, and plan, train for and do a two-day expedition. They also had to spend an extra three months on one section.

The activities the young people took part in included DJ’ing, cooking, volunteering at a Mencap gig and helping adults with a learning disability.

Bronze Award-holder Javid said: “I didn’t realise how hard it would be, but it gave me a real sense of achievement when I’d done it. I hope it might help me get to uni, and get a job.”

During the ceremony, group members gave presentations on their expeditions. There was also a short film, created by one of the participants, documenting their personal journey through the programme.

“It was a fantastic day and an amazing atmosphere,” said Raising Your Game regional coordinator for Avon and Somerset and DofE Award leader, Heather Ribalta. “The day was very personal and should build on the young people’s self-belief and self-confidence. I hope it will shape the future of awards for people with a learning disability.”

The Metropolitan Police Service has recently signed up to Mencap’s Stand by me police promise – ten pledges to help ensure people with a learning disability live their lives free from hate crime.

These include challenging discriminatory attitudes among fellow officers, supplying information in a suitable form and understanding how to identify if someone has a learning disability. While the police promise focuses on victims of hate crime, the relationship that Mencap has with the Metropolitan Police bodes well for future work.

 “It’s great that the UK’s biggest police service has signed the police promise, and we hope that the work we’ve already done on raising awareness of learning disability can be continued,” said Mark Gale, Mencap campaigns and policy officer. “The service has already showed an interest in our work with young people at risk of offending, so we hope to build on this and make progress in how it works with these young people.”

To find out more about the Stand by me campaign click here

The court environment is a daunting place for defendants with a learning disability or communication difficulty.

This is something that Raising Your Game staff have learned from working with young people. Their experiences highlighted many issues – “you nod and agree and you think it’s too late to say ‘what did you mean?’”.

They have also found that professionals within the criminal justice system (CJS) need training and resources and support when working with people with a learning disability or communication difficulty who are appearing in court.

To help reduce the impact of these problems, Raising Your Game is launching a film, called Getting ready for court. It offers thoughts and tips on appearing in court. Using the voices of young people on the project and those using Nacro services, the film aims to help both professionals and young people with a learning disability or communication difficulty, aged between 14 and 25, understand their rights and the procedures in the complex court system.

Raising Your Game marketing officer, Katy Palmer, said: “We made sure the young people gave the advice, not just CJS professionals. It’s their stories that make the court room experience more real for viewers.

“Professionals from organisations including the Youth Justice Board and the Prison Reform Trust will be promoting the resource online and using it in their work.”

To register your interest in a copy of the DVD, please email raisingyourgame@mencap.org.uk

“When they say ‘be at court at ten thirty’, your heart is going at a million miles per hour. You’ve got to make sure you get there on time – you don’t even wanna go to sleep the night before. You just wanna be up and ready, standing at the door waiting. And then you get there and there is the biggest, longest wait.”

“I let my solicitor do the speaking, because I’m not good with speaking.”

“My mum told me ‘here’s a shirt, wear a shirt, wear these shoes’. I ignored everything she said. But looking back, if you dress in a tracksuit, they’re gonna think he ain’t interested, he’s a thug.”

“My solicitor said ‘it’s fine, I’ll read it out to you if you don’t understand’. So I was happy with my solicitor – he’s a good solicitor.”

“The most difficult thing is when they’re reading everything out, because they’re making it sound so bad. You feel like you wanna jump up and say ‘that’s not how it happened’, but that doesn’t help your case, cos it shows another side of you – it’s anger and aggression.”

“They [magistrates] decide what’s gonna happen to you, so it’s not gonna do you no harm if you talk to them with respect.”

“My solicitor said ‘there’s gonna be a room full of people’. She explained who’s gonna be sitting where.”

“When you haven’t got anyone sitting there, you feel lonely and you feel nervous. I took my mum once and it gave me a lot of support.”

“It’s all about body language – you’re not gonna be sat in a court and be smiling and sniggering. You’re gonna be looking sincere.”

A child throws a bowl of cereal at his care worker, jumps out of the window and then climbs back in. He is arrested for assault and attempted burglary. It might seem ridiculous, but this is a genuine case from a report on Britain’s youth justice system.

‘The report urges a ‘common sense’ approach to minor incidents, with schools, social services, communities and families playing a greater role. It also says young offender institutions are often promoting offending rather than reducing it, and calls for an overhaul of the whole system.

It recommends joint working between services, a whole family approach, promoting the benefits of relationships and meaningful punishments. 

Furthermore, in March, the European Council’s commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg, wrote to justice minister Kenneth Clarke saying the youth justice system in England was ‘excessively punitive’. He advised him to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10.

Rules of Engagement: Changing the heart of youth justice’ – published by the Centre for Social Justice in January – argues that courts and prisons are a ‘dumping ground’ for problem young people. As the example shows, too many are going to court for trivial reasons, and getting a criminal record.

RYG discussed these issues with:

• an anonymous solicitor (AS)

• Kevin Huish (KH), custody and mental health lead at the Police Federation of England and Wales

• Jacqui Rolando (JR), director at Project Beacon (offering offender resettlement, training and employment support)

• Jenny Chambers (JC), policy development officer at the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Is the youth justice system a ‘dumping ground’?

JR: Absolutely. When there is a difficult young person, they are a problem to their school, their parents, their community and the police. If they go into prison, the ‘problem’ goes away.

AS: The youth justice system is so intertwined with the services young people come into contact with. Sometimes, the support they receive can be so bad that they would rather be in custody.

KH: Services are over-stretched, due to a lack of funding and staff.

JC: We have the highest numbers of young people incarcerated in western Europe. If you consider that at least 40% of young people on remand in custody are acquitted or receive a community sentence, it’s clear they should have never been in prison.

Is it promoting offending?

KH: It is, when it’s sending young people to young offender institutions inappropriately, as they then learn to become proper criminals from the prolific offenders. This is compounded by a lack of rehabilitation opportunities.

JR: Going into Feltham prison, for example, can be seen as a badge of honour. It’s the law of the jungle and if you’re not assertive you become a victim – this promotes aggressive behaviour. Once you’ve gone through the prison system, the fear of reconviction and authority is less significant.

JC: With 7 out of 10 young people leaving custody being reconvicted within a year, something isn’t working. The Howard League’s Life Outside project followed young people who had been released. They faced strict terms of licence, having to attend 25 hours supervision a week, and were labelled as offenders in custody and by youth offending teams.

AS: The act a young person has to commit to return to custody becomes much more minor than if they had not been through the system. Missing a curfew could land them back inside as easily as stealing a mobile phone. Are too many children being given custodial sentences for trivial reasons?

AS: It’s 100% the case, and the earlier they go in to the system, the more likely they are to remain. There’s little proof that custodial sentences help. So many young people who offend have a care background, and time inside breaks relationships. Some will be released as adults and not be entitled to the state support they had been receiving.

JR: It’s clear that some young people I meet are more victims than perpetrators. They are subject to peer pressure, and have low school attainment and self-esteem and little family support.

KH: In my experience, custodial sentences are only given as a last resort, sometimes far too late. I appreciate this could be different elsewhere.

What is a good alternative to custody? 

KH: Restorative justice methods have proven to be successful – especially when some form of benefit to the victim is involved.

AS: Work schemes in the community. The work must have purpose and be embedded in the community where the offences are taking place. This can help reduce local crime, because the person feels a connection with where they live.

JR: Something that improves their circumstances. Current ‘payback’ schemes often further marginalise young people. They have to wear orange suits, are labelled as offenders and often perform menial tasks that focus on cost-saving. They are not learning new skills or developing.

JC: Multi-systemic therapy – intervention in the community by a team of psychologists who work with children and their families.

What can be done to tackle the problems?

JC: Investment needs to be focused on early intervention and prevention. If the age of criminal responsibility increased in line with the rest of western Europe, a lot of what is considered a crime would no longer be a criminal matter. It would be dealt with by the welfare system and the young person would receive more support.

KH: Families need to be re-educated to take on their parental responsibilities. There needs to be a real investment in young people for whom the academic route won’t work. They need to be identified early and directed down a vocational route, to give them skills to enable them to work.

AS: The youth justice system needs to create links with the young people in it and be informed on how it can improve. This is empowering for young offenders and can create trust in authority.

JR: It’s about sentences working towards something positive. It’s not an excuse, but a child’s brain is still in development, so we should use this time appropriately.

Here, Mencap volunteer Lloyd Page tells us about his day as an extra during the filming of a real-life court room scene.

Raising Your Game Filming – Stratford Courthouse 12.02.2012

They were filming to show what young people with a learning disability can expect if they ever go to court.

We used a real court room with real magistrates and real solicitors to show the experience from the defendant’s perspective.

They filmed in the court room and the waiting area and I was one of the extras.

When the film is finished they hope to have a screening back at the courthouse.

The lunch, fruit and hot drinks on tap was excellent and I hope to do more filming in the future.

This was arranged by Katy Palmer and a film maker Anne Parisio and they did a very good job

Report by Lloyd Page

Raising Your Game is looking for volunteers – this Sunday 12th February 2012

Where?

Shooting in Stratford Magistrates Court, East London:

The Court House
389-397 High Street
London
England
E15 4SB

When?

You will be needed between 12-4pm

Raising Your Game will pay for your travel expenses and lunch. During the afternoon you can find out more about how films are made. You can talk to people from the project to find out what Raising Your Game is all about.

Why?

The film will help young people feel more ready about court. Raising Your Game are making it with Mencap and filmmakers Anne and Charlotte. You’ll be asked to appear in the court’s waiting room. The scene will show young people what it feels like to wait to be called into the courtroom.

Where will the film be shown?

The film will be shown on the Raising Your Game website. It will also be on websites for other organisations working with young people who have been in trouble with the police. You will sign a form called a consent form so you know how this film will be used.

Why me?

You won’t have any lines to learn and you’ll help us to reassure young people aged 14-25 with a learning disability about what it’s like waiting to go to court.

You can wear your own clothes and be yourself.

How can I volunteer?

If you can help this weekend please email

katy.palmer@mencap.org.uk or call

020 7696 5583

and new-look newsletter

Raising Your Game launched its second phase, which sees the project shift its focus to young people with a learning disability or communication difficulty at risk of offending.

Held in Leeds in November, the event showed what Raising Your Game can offer youth and criminal justice organisations.

Helen Cole speaking at Leeds launch

Over 70 people heard from young people about their experiences with the police and Raising Your Game, and their hopes for the future. Guests included Richard Bradshaw, director of the Department of Health’s Offender Health programme, and Vernon Francis, chief inspector at West Yorkshire Police’s City and Holbeck Division.

The change is also reflected in a new-look newsletter, which was launched in January and tackles the media’s perception of young people after last summer’s riots.

Tim Loughton from the Department of Education has a read of the new look newsletter: