YOUTH JUSTICE

It is widely cited that youth crime has seen a reduction in the last 10 years. After the 2007-2012 ‘Out of Trouble’ programme achieved its aim of reducing the UK’s child and youth imprisonment rates, seeing an almost 60% reduction in children entering the prison estate, overall numbers have continued to fall.

Recent statistics from the Youth for Justice Board (YJB) saw an 18% fall in first-time entrants to the youth justice system at the end of September 2018 compared with the previous year. However, these statistics offer a limited picture of youth justice. There are fundamental issues within the system that must be addressed if we are to hope that young people in prison will not go to prison as adults as well.

the system

Organisation JUSTICE suggests 3 main grounds for criticism of the UK's youth justice system:

1) “the low age of criminal responsibility”

At 10 years old, England and Wales (along with Switzerland)have the lowest age for criminal responsibility in Europe. 

2) “the application of laws and procedures to children that do not properly take into account their age and maturity”

In the UK age alone is the determining factor in sentencing, despite scientific research which highlights that “understanding of maturity is fundamental” to justice proceedings.

3) “custodial sentencing – its overuse, and the conditions of custody for children and young people”

Although prison sentences for children are officially a “last resort”, statistics of under-18 imprisonment show this is not the case.

racial disparity

Although the number of under-18s in youth justice provisions has declined from its highest in October 2002 at 3,200 to 835 in November 2018, David Lammy found in his 2017 review that “numbers have dropped slower for BAME young people than White young people”. In fact, “the BAME proportion of young people reoffending has risen from 11% to 18%”.

JUSTICE highlights that this disproportionality is starkest “in the youth custodial estate where the BAME population is 51%, despite being 18% of the 10-17 year old population”.

The success of the overall reduced rates of youth crime are in danger of masking the different trends we are seeing for BAME young people. If this overrepresentation is not addressed, BAME youth will continue to be let down by the system.

SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE

There are inextricable links between youth justice and the provision for students at risk of exclusion in the education system. The ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ is one framework that helps to explain their interconnectedness. This refers to the process by which students are marginalised out of the school system and into prisons. It starts with disciplinary procedures, such as internal, temporary or permanent exclusion, which separate students from other peers to manage their disruptive behaviour. 

Once excluded, young people are more at risk of entering into criminal activity, and therefore more at risk of entering prison.Research confirms the correlation.

A longitudinal study of the UK prison population published by the Ministry of Justice found that “63% had been suspended or temporarily excluded, and 42% stated that they had been permanently excluded or expelled”. Because young people from BAME backgrounds are statistically more likely to be excluded from school, they are disproportionately exposed to the school-to-prison pipeline compared to White students.

This overrepresentation and systemic racism needs to be tackled in both the education and justice system.

alternatives

Holistic intervention is needed. Changes to the system, such as reforms to disciplinary policies and improved access to pastoral support, are likely to reduce offending rates in young people.

The Ministry of Justice found this to be the case in their longitudinal study. Its findings into school exclusion and truancy on those in prison suggest “that interventions at, around, or before the point of exclusion could have a positive effect on these young people’s lives, reducing their likelihood of future offending or reoffending”.

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE

If we are to see real justice at every level of the justice system, including for those who offend, we must address its root causes and truly treat prison as a last resort.

Alex Lloyd is a psychology PhD student and youth justice advocate. He gave a TED Talk in 2018 entitled 'What if we could do youth justice better?' (scroll for the video). He ends it with this challenge:

“When we speak of ‘justice’, we speak of the theory by which fairness is administered. What if imprisoning young people, damaged children and those excluded from society due to trauma and poor mental health, isn't actually justice? What if the most just and effective response to youth crime was to give those young people the social and psychological tools to recognise the wrongness of their actions and choose a different path?”

what next?

  • Check out 'No Lost Causes' — They're an amazing movement run by youth seeking to effect changes to the education system to obstruct the school-to-prison pipeline.

  • Watch Alex Lloyd’s TEDxTalk on the Youth Justice System in the UK.

  • Listen to “Youth Justice?” a BBC Radio 4 episode from 2018 to learn more about youth justice institutions.