Prevention and Youth Justice Service

The Prevention and Youth Justice Service (PYJS) works with children between 10-17 years old, who are at risk of becoming involved or are involved in offending behaviour.

Within our prevention remit, we work in partnership with other teams across Wokingham to identify children who present with risk factors that might lead them to offending or anti-social behaviour. We work with them and their families to prevent their behaviours escalating and in doing so, stopping them from entering the criminal justice system. We also deliver outreach work in the community and in schools, to educate children, children and adults around the risk factors and pathways to offending.

In 2022/23, we developed an additional prevention pathway: the Exclusion Prevention Programme. This intervention is being piloted with 6 secondary schools in Wokingham streamlining access to prevention work for those children who are at risk of/have been suspended/permanently excluded from school due to behaviours of offending nature. The aim of the intervention is to both reduce the risk of further suspensions and the risk of the child entering the criminal justice system.

The PYJS also manages a number of formal and informal out of court programmes. These interventions are for children who have committed low level offences and who are diverted to our service by the police. We support these children to prevent their offending behaviour escalating and leading to need for Court intervention.

Additionally, the PYJS has statutory responsibility for managing and supervising children and young people who have been sentenced by the Court to Orders, both in the community and in custody. Our service supports the rehabilitation of children by preventing re-offending, reducing the use of custody, and keeping the public safe.