New AYJ briefing calls on incoming government to reimagine youth justice
We are proud to today [10th September 2024] publish our new briefing, Setting the youth justice agenda, urging the government to take bold action to reform the youth justice system. We set out changes new Ministers must prioritise to ensure a safeguarding response to vulnerable children, end racial injustice, and guarantee that custody is a last resort.
Developed through extensive consultation with our members, the briefing highlights the complex interrelationship between children’s vulnerability, victimisation, and involvement in crime. It states that while commendable progress has been made in recent years, significant concerns remain:
The current division of departmental responsibilities in government leads to vulnerable children being seen in a punitive light, being criminalised rather than safeguarded, and treated as mini-adults rather than children.
The response to children at risk of entering the justice system too often fails to recognise vulnerability and exploitation and prioritise safeguarding, leading to punitive rather than preventative approaches
It is seven years since the Lammy review highlighted racial disparities in youth justice as it’s gravest concern yet racial disparities have increased and Black and racially minoritised children continue to experience grave injustices
Prison is no place for a child, yet children continue to be sent to custody when it is not a last resort. A lack of vision and direction for the secure estate leaves it lurching from crisis to crisis.
The briefing sets out the urgent need for systemic changes to prevent further harm to children and society, to create a system that promotes social justice and enables all children to reach their full potential.
Key recommendations:
1. A Department for Children, led by a Secretary of State for Children, to oversee a children’s rights strategy.
Establish a new government department with responsibility for all children, including those in or at risk of entering the youth justice system, to oversee a cross-government children’s rights strategy to protect and support vulnerable children. A Department for Children would guarantee that children involved in crime are taken into consideration by those also responsible for the care of other vulnerable children, ensuring they are viewed and treated differently to justice-involved adults.
2. Rebalanced resources away from crisis intervention, policing and punitive action towards investing in communities to work together to support children before needs escalate.
Create a strategy for keeping children safe that recognises the inherent harms of the criminal justice system. Efforts must focus upstream on keeping children out of the system, and ensuring where interactions with police and criminal justice do happen, the priority is making the child safer as a result. This includes rebalancing funding towards preventative services and investing in the voluntary sector; reviewing local partnerships to harness the potential of multi-agency approaches; embedding child-centred policing; and improving nationwide diversion practice and support.
3. A clear plan of action to tackle the cumulative impacts of racial discrimination before, during and after children’s contact with the justice system.
Create a cross-government plan to end unjust disproportionality in the marginalisation, criminalisation and mistreatment of racially minoritised children, accepting the existence of institutional racism and setting targets and timelines to eradicate it. Establish clear lines of governance and accountability; address systemic inequalities that are the root causes of racial criminalisation; tackle persistent disparities in the policing, diversion and sentencing of children; invest in a culturally competent workforce and voluntary organisations led by and for Black and racially minoritised communities; and reform the criminal record system to allow children to move on from disproportionate criminalisation.
4. A comprehensive, long-term strategy for keeping children out of custody and closing failing and extremely harmful child prisons.
Create an ambitious strategy which includes a strategic vision for children in custody, to ensure the government is doing all in its power to ensure custody is a last resort, and where it is deemed necessary, all children are held in small, welfare-based and rights-respecting establishments. This includes putting in place a clear, restrictive legislative framework to minimise use of custody; a plan with clear timescales for closing all Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) and the last Secure Training Centre (STC); and a robust improvement plan for addressing pressing safety issues in YOIs and STCs in the interim.
Jess Mullen, Chief Executive of the AYJ, commented:
“The new government has a unique opportunity to reimagine youth justice in England and Wales. The current system disproportionately harms the most vulnerable children, particularly those from racially minoritised backgrounds. We need a bold approach that prioritises safeguarding and support over punishment, eradicates institutional racism, and ends the imprisonment of children.”
We are looking forward to collaborating with the new government to implement these much-needed reforms, and are currently seeking opportunities for members to engage with Ministers to develop and deliver an approach to youth justice that protects and nurtures all children.
For further information please contact Millie Harris, AYJ Policy Manager, at millie.harris@ayj.org.uk