QuickFacts is a collection of guides that compile information based on the most common needs and inquiries of the people on probation before, during, and after their journey. It aids in navigating the people on probation to comprehend their needs and the actions/steps they must take.
Catch 22, cooperated with the UK Ministry of Justice, is to build a service for an alternative to the recall system for those who are recalled and pose no threat to society or themselves.
In this project, our team delivered an intervention to the pilot programme that is being implemented in Jan 2022.
BACKGROUND:
Over the coming years, nearly 6,000 people are recalled, and this is due to a breach of their licence terms. This costs the UK government on average £17.1 billion per year. So why is that an issue? The recall rate is primarily due to not understanding their terms and not committing otherwise. Moreover, more data shows that 41% of people on probation involved a charge of further offending, 72% of people on probation involved non-compliance, 28% of people on probation involved failure to keep in touch, and 23% of people on probation involved failure.
The simplified diagram illustrates the three main stakeholders and how people on probation go through the four stages in their release journey.
RESEARCH APPROACH:
We had 3 workshops with people on probation, 2 interviews with probation practitioners, and kept in contact with Catch 22 every week to synchronise progress while getting feedback. During all our research we kept our values reflected in our research approach, especially for people on probation. We made sure to focus on:
Human-centered
Give choice to the People on Probation
Creating a Safe space
Participatory Approach
All these techniques are intended to give people on probation the choice for participatory discussions and also made sure they feel safe to share freely.
DEFINING
THE PROBLEM:
After conducting our research and co-design workshops, we concluded the following three insights. There is an immense amount of workload on the probation practitioner resulting in cases of burnout. There is a lack of trust and communication between PP and PoP. The change of the probation practitioner disables a strong connection with the person on probation, and the handover process contains a severe knowledge gap.
After conducting our research and co-design workshops, we concluded the following three insights. There is an immense amount of workload on the probation practitioner resulting in cases of burnout. There is a lack of trust and communication between PP and PoP. The change of the probation practitioner disables a strong connection with the person on probation, and the handover process contains a severe knowledge gap.
The information channels for people on probation ranges from so-called gossip to other official spaces. However, during this time, there are a lot of information inaccuracies and missing factual information that gets lost in the process, which indicates an intervention that could fill in the gap is needed.
DESIGN DIRECTION:
How might we provide the people on probation with the information that they need at different stages of their journey, so as to fill in the knowledge gap with the right and accurate source?
QuickFacts is a collection of guides that compile information based on the most common needs and inquiries of the people on probation before, during, and after their journey. It aims in navigating the people on probation in order to comprehend their needs and showing them the steps they must take.”
It adds value by providing easy to understand content, conveying information directing for the source, which builds trust, regular updating new information of what is in demand that season and Giving reassurance throughout each touchpoint of the journey.
DEVELOPMENT:
APPLICATION:
To introduce Quickfacts, the navigation mentors will give the brochure to the people on probation during their onboarding sessions to read it through and prepare before they get released. If people on probation have further questions about any included terms or find something missing in the brochure, they can talk to their probation practitioner in their following regular sessions. Furthermore, the probation practitioners could recognise the difficulties and inquiries from the people on probation in their feedback constantly and update the information in the next version of Quickfacts.
Aside from the core needs guides covering an array of necessities, other themes will be handed out at different stages of the Catch 22 journeys. For example, a community and license understanding guide to be given right before their release. This is to prepare them for re-entering society and reduce information overload.
Exceptionally grateful to our tutor Judah Armani, who gave us precious guidance and valuable feedback; to our interviewees, who shared their experience and knowledge and also gave us a fabulous show; to Naomi from Catch 22, who followed us through the whole project; and to all probation officers that participated in this journey as well.