About the panels
STEPP (South Tyneside Early Prevention Panels) is a borough-wide youth crime prevention initiative.
The service has been running since 2004 and is part of the prevention section of the Youth Offending Service.
STEPP offers voluntary support to young people aged 8-16, who are behaving in ways that put them at risk of offending - be it truancy, school exclusion, friends or family members involved in offending or anti-social behaviour, problems within the family, mental health issues, drug misuse, anti-social behaviour and other risk factors.
The programme works closely with its partner agencies - Social Services, Education Welfare Service, Connexions PAYP, Housing, Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, Matrix, Youth Offending Service (YOS), the Police - and others to identify young people who are thought to be at high-risk.
What is meant by 'high-risk'?
Young people aged 8-16 who are often getting into trouble, or are more likely to get into trouble than their peers, are considered to be at 'high-risk' of offending.
Tell-tale signs of offending later in life can be seen in young people's behaviour, be it during school hours (truancy, exclusion), at home (family problems, domestic violence), or outside of school (alcohol/drug misuse, anti-social behaviour).
If these signs can be identified early on, a suitable action plan can be drawn up to prevent this behaviour from escalating into more serious offences.
