Solas project's 'we won't give up' policy sees engagement with most serious of young offenders

Solas has officially launched two youth justice intervention models, one aimed at prolific young offenders in the community (Rua) and another at those serving time in prison (Compass).

It is possible to engage with the most serious of young offenders, but the intervention has to be “relentless” and can take up to four years, according to an acclaimed youth justice project.

The Solas Project programme leaders said they had succeeded in working with juveniles that many people had told them “won’t change” and that are “too far gone”.

But they told potential government funders that the change “does not come overnight” and that officials need to take a long-term approach to working with the most chaotic of young offenders.

The Solas Project, based in Dublin’s south inner city, officially launched on Friday its two youth justice intervention models, one aimed at prolific young offenders in the community (Rua) and another at those serving time in prison (Compass).

The Rua project recently received a positive initial evaluation, in research commissioned by the Department of Justice, which was carried out halfway through its four-year programme.

Eddie D'Arcy, retiring chief executive of the Solas Project, and 40-year veteran of youth work, said that when they launched Rua in September 2017, their targets were offenders who had been deemed unsuitable for the Garda Youth Diversion Programme, before the courts, and living locally.

As well as being involved in serious offending, often on a daily basis, these youths were “quite damaged or very damaged” and a lot of time was spent getting them to believe the project was there to support them.

He said the Solas Project had proved it was possible to engage with the "most serious young offenders" and the project's stance was that "we won't give up".

Eddie D'Arcy, retiring chief executive of Solas, says the project proved it was possible to engage with the 'most serious young offenders' and its stance was that 'we won't give up'.

The Solas Project justice team leader Ashling Golden said the Rua project worked with young people aged 15-18 for four years, while the Compass programme works with those aged 18-24 over 3.5 years.

She said people had told them “you are wasting your time”, that the youths are “too far gone”,  but they had proved these people wrong.

She said the same work can be done elsewhere if a project builds “strong, supportive relationships” with young people, provides them with “consistency”, and goes back to them “again and again” during good times and bad.

“We do a huge amount of street work," said Ms Golden. 

It’s a relentless approach, not just at the beginning  — we are relentless over the four years.

She said the youth workers spend time building the trust and are “contactable all the time”.

Ms Golden said funders at government level “have to be realistic” about projects such as Solas. “This is a long-term approach; it does not come overnight," she said.

Speaking at the virtual launch, minister of state at the Department of Justice James Browne said the new Youth Justice Strategy, which he hoped to put before the Government by the end of the year, would further develop programmes that target juveniles with "significant patterns of offending".

He said he was struck by the “never give up” philosophy of the Solas Project.

Professor of criminology at Queen's University, Belfast, Shadd Maruna, said there was "no magic bullet" and that it was "a long-term process".