Risk of Harm to others (RoH)
A significant aspect of HMI Probation's work in the last few years has been the increasing focus we have given to the need for improvement in the assessment and management of offenders' Risk of Harm to others – the public protection aspect of Probation and Youth Offending work. The need for improvement in Risk of Harm work has been indicated by results from our inspections, both of the management of adult offenders and of the work of Youth Offending Teams.
Risk of Harm work as carried out by offender managers and YOT practitioners, and increasingly by police and prison staff, comprises a series of important tasks and processes each of which has to be done on time and each of which has to be done well, as an integral part of managing a case from start to end. We are strongly of the view that Risk of Harm cannot be eliminated when an offender is being managed in the community, but we expect managers and practitioners to take all reasonable action to keep to a minimum each offender's Risk of Harm to others.
The main aspects of our work on Risk of Harm (RoH) issues are:
(i) a clear element within our regular inspection programmes of probation and youth offending work
(ii) thematic inspections, jointly with other inspectorates
(iii) RoH Inquiries and Serious Further Offence Reviews
Regular inspection programmes
The Offender Management Inspection programme (OMI) includes a distinct RoH element. Along with general scores for assessment, interventions and initial outcomes, a score for RoH work overall - the RoH is calculated and is a key finding in each inspection.
We have developed a specific module for inspecting RoH – the Risk of Harm Inspection Module (RoHIM). In essence, this is a stand-alone version of the RoH thread from within OMI. Sometimes, following a poor OMI result, we identify the need for a reinspection of RoH work, and for this we use the RoHIM. The RoHIM is also intended as a tool to enable practitioners and managers to self-assess their own RoH work. More information on the RoHIM is can be found on the OMI programme page..
Alongside our regular assessment of RoH work in the core OMI programme, we have also carried out, in agreement with NOMS, additional Risk of Harm Area Assessments using the RoHIM in 11 Probation Areas between December 2007 and June 2008. As a result, from June 2008 an assessment of the quality of RoH work in all 42 criminal justice areas has been made in the preceding two years.
We are also giving increasing emphasis to the quality of RoH work by Youth Offending Teams in our YOT inspections, in consultation with the Youth Justice Board.
Recent joint thematic work
In September 2006, we published a thematic inspection report "Putting Risk of Harm in Context: An Inspection Promoting Public Protection", jointly with HMI Prisons and HMI Constabulary. The report (available here) made a number of recommendations to police, probation and prisons together, aimed at improving further the coordination of work on public protection between these agencies. This followed a joint thematic inspection of work with sex offenders, published in December 2005.
During 2007-08 we have led a joint inspection with HMI Prisons and HMI Constabulary on the management of offenders in approved premises. The report “Probation hostels – Control, Help and Change” was published on 28 March 2008.
Further joint thematic inspection work relating to Risk of Harm issues is planned for 2008-09.
Risk of Harm Inquiries and Serious Further Offence Reviews
We carry out ad hoc independent reviews of Serious Further Offence cases - ie cases where an offender under probation or YOT supervision commits a serious further offence - at the request of Ministers.
In particular, during the course of 2005-06 we carried out three independent reviews of SFO cases, each of which attracted considerable publicity:
- Peter Williams, supervised by Nottingham City Youth Offending Team; published in September 2005 (report available here)
- Damien Hanson and Elliot White, supervised by London Probation Area; published in February 2006 (report available here)
- Anthony Rice, supervised by Hampshire Probation Area; published in May 2006 (report available here)
We also provide advice to NOMS HQ on the handling of their reviews of SFO cases.
We also carry out other Risk of Harm inquiries relating to particular cases.
In March 2007 we published Not Locked up but Subject to Rules the report of an inquiry requested by the Home Secretary following a Panorama programme in November 2006 about the supervision of offenders in approved premises (hostels) in Bristol.
On 27 March 2008 we published Turning Good Intentions into Good Practice: an inquiry into developments in the multi-agency management of Risk of Harm in Gwent. This is the report of an inquiry into developments in the management of Risk of Harm in Gwent since the Craig Sweeney case in early 2006.
On 4 July 2008 we published "On the Right Road: an inquiry into developments in the multi-agency management of Risk of Harm in London". This is the report of an inquiry into developments in the management of Risk of Harm in London since the Gary Chester-Nash case in 2005. The report is available here
