Intermediate treatment and juvenile justice : key findings and implications from a national survey of intermediate treatment policy and practice

The term "intermediate treatment" was created in the 1968 White Paper which preceded the enactment of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969, a welfare-orientated statute on juvenile justice.

Since then, how has intermediate treatment (IT) developed?

A national survey was undertaken by the University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology, whose fieldwork on IT policy and provision was carried out in 1984-5 for the whole of England and Wales.

This report is based on their policy interviews in 95 social services departments and 53 probation districts, plus information obtained from over 1200 local IT projects.

It describes varying policy approaches to IT in different social services departments; tensions between social services departments and local probation services; and the common practice of mixing different kinds of clients with local IT provision.

Some interim policy recommendations are offered, based on this collection of data. Following the national survey, the research team has carried out further intensive fieldwork to assess how effective IT has been.

The results of this work are currently being processed.