Young Offender Rehabilitation Champions

Young offenders are a much-overlooked but serious problem in the United Kingdom. When thinking about the correctional system in place, there are clear issues that need to be resolved. However, there are a few prominent figures that stand out as champions for young offenders and their rehabilitation.

Keith Towler, Children’s Commissioner for Wales

Having held the position since the 1^st of March 2008, Keith Towler has campaigned extensively for the rights of young offenders in Wales. His first annual report in the role of Children’s Commissioner, he discussed the much-criticised system in the United Kingdom where ten year olds could be given custodial sentences.

He has strived to change the system in his country to better service the needs of young offenders, in order to avoid the chance of them reoffending and to aid their rehabilitation and reintegration into society. He stated that children’s services are often seen as “soft targets”, and are likely to have funding cut.

Towler said:”It costs £35,000 to keep someone in a young offenders’ institution and £75,000 a year to run a project for 125 young people in a community which might prevent them from going into the young offenders institution in the first place. So in terms of thinking how we best use our money youth service and youth work provides a fantastic return.”

Steve Holliday

As the Chief Executive Officer for the National Grid, Steve Holliday has significant influence within business circles. He has used his position to initiate the National Grid’s Young Offender Program, designed to rehabilitate young people who have been through the correctional system.

So far, his efforts have seen 2,000 people pass through the system, and the rate of reoffending has been marked at 6% - an incredible 49% less than the national percentage quoted in statistics.

Holliday’s other main achievement has been to unite 22 prisons or other correctional facilities with over 80 companies in a similar sector to the National Grid. Their combined efforts have been directly responsible for this aid given to young people who are sorely in need of help to stop being trapped in the so-called “revolving door” of crime and prison. With an overwhelming number of young people falling into crime, and with over 75% of young offenders being repeat offenders, programmes such as the Young Offender Program are vital for helping to save young people.