AYJ Quarterly Members’ Meeting: October 2022

On Wednesday 19th October, the AYJ hosted its quarterly Members’ Meeting, which featured a panel discussion on the harms posed to children by stop and search, with an emphasis on strip searching. Panellists were Yolanda Lear, Project Officer at Hackney Account; Dr Ian Joseph, Research Associate at the Open University; and Chris Bath, Chief Executive at the National Appropriate Adult Network. 

Panellist responses to questions posed by Saqib Deshmukh, the AYJ’s Interim CEO, highlighted concerns surrounding the implications of cases such as Child Q, and recent analysis by the Children’s Commissioner for England on the strip searching of children by the Metropolitan Police Service. Discussions centred on child-focused policing, systemic racism, accountability and responsibility, and the importance of community voices. The full video of the panel discussion is available here:  

Following the panel discussion, Marike Van Harskamp introduced findings from the New Horizon Youth Centre’s Enhanced Constructive Resettlement Project, and Charlie Sutton presented findings from research on Context Sensitive Preventative Interventions.  

Lastly, Saqib Deshmukh and Millie Harris, the AYJ’s Policy Manager, updated attendees on the AYJ’s upcoming projects and our work over the previous quarter, including recently published comments on the Keppel Unit at Wetherby Young Offender Institution and the thematic report into girls in the secure estate; the publication of a policy briefing examining ‘crises and crossroads for the children’s secure estate’; and feeding in to the Civil Society Alternative Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.