AYJ Monthly Newsletter: August 2023

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AYJ COMMENT: Pain-inducing restraint
Responding to the announcement that pain-inducing restraint has been banned in the secure estate except in emergencies (see below), the AYJ has commented welcoming the ban, and highlighting that the Youth Custody Service must not now contradict itself by rolling out PAVA spray to its staff, giving them new tools to inflict pain on children.

LETTER: “14 million children "silenced" by Covid-19 Inquiry” – Just for Kids Law
The AYJ has joined nearly 50 leading charities and child development experts in signing an open letter highlighting concerns to the COVID-19 Inquiry about the “unacceptable delays” in taking evidence from children regarding their experiences of lockdown. Save the Children’s press release available here, Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE)’s press release available here, The Telegraph reports and the Independent reports on the Children’s Commissioner for England’s urging that “young people’s voices are at [the] ‘heart and centre’” of the COVID-19 Inquiry, Mail Online reports. AYJ Policy Manager Millie Harris attended a children and young people’s sector forum held by the Inquiry and has met with the team to discuss how they will hear from children and young people with experience of the youth justice system during the pandemic.

ENGAGEMENT:

• AYJ Interim CEO Saqib Deshmukh and Policy Manager Millie Harris met with Keith Fraser, YJB Chair, and Stephanie Roberts-Bibby, YJB Interim CEO, for our quarterly meeting. Discussions centred on concerns around youth custody, and child centred policing.