In Autumn 2009 the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill 2008 will introduce The Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO). This will be the new standard community sentence for young people who offend, and will combine a number of existing sentences into one sentence. It aims to simplify sentencing for young people, while improving the flexibility of interventions. For more details please go here.

Alongside the introduction of the YRO, the national Youth Justice Board will also introduce the new "Scaled Approach" National Standards. These new rules aim to develop a tiered approach to work with young offenders in order to ensure that the highest service levels go to the highest risk cases.

Research has shown that Supervision is more likely to be successful if we provide an intensity of intervention matched to the needs and risks which each young person has. North Yorkshire Youth Justice Service has already begun to prepare for this important change, which should improve the safety of our communities and achieve better outcomes for the young people too.