The Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO) was introduced in November 2009 and is the standard community sentence for children and young people who offend. It combines the following 18 possible requirements into one generic sentence:
- Attendance centre requirement
- Drug treatment requirement
- Electronic monitoring requirement
- Local authority Residence requirement
- Mental Health Treatment requirement
- Prohibited activity requirement
- YRO with Intensive Fostering
- YRO with intensive supervision treatment requirement and surveillance
The range of requirements and flexibility of the YRO enables courts to take a more individualised and targeted approach to community sentencing, supported by Youth Offending Teams’ (YOT's) scaled approach assessment and information presented in YOT court reports.
There are no restrictions on the number of times a young person can be sentenced to a YRO. If a young person reoffends, courts are expected to use the YRO on multiple occasions, adapting the menu as appropriate to deal with repeat offending.
Young people on a YRO will be seen by staff from the YOT on a regular basis, depending on their assessed risk of reoffending and potential for harm to the community.
The YRO also allows plenty of opportunity for reparation (making up for any harm that has been caused to victims or the wider community) to be included, meaning that the victim's needs will be considered in every case.
Related documents:
Youth_Rehabilitation_Order_and_the_Criminal_Justice_and_Immigration_Act_2008