Racial disparity in youth justice: Time for action

AYJ’s first Members’ Meeting of 2022 focused on the urgent action required to address the worsening racial disparity in the youth justice system

The reality of racial injustice facing children in the youth justice system can not be denied and must not be ignored. But despite multiple reviews, research and data analysis aiming to understand the nature and extent of the problem, racial disparity in the youth justice system still continues to increase, with children from racially minoritised groups representing more than half of children in custody.

Most recently, the extent of these entrenched problems were underlined in the 2020 to 2021 annual youth justice statistics. YJB Chair, Keith Fraser, published a blog in response to the annual statistics on the shameful failure to address the cumulative impact of racial disparity for Black children throughout the youth justice system. These shocking figures evidence that as a Black child in England and Wales you are more likely to be stopped and searched, arrested, held on remand, sentenced to custody and to go on to be convicted of another offence within a year. In Annual statistics: a youth justice system failing Black children, he concludes that:

“It was clear before, but these figures are a sobering reminder of the work we collectively need to do to address disproportionality, find and use alternatives to remand and to keep children out of the justice system.”

The AYJ’s first members’ meeting of the year focused on the urgency required to address racial disparity and set out our intention to grow the scale and impact of our work in this area in 2022 and beyond. Several members shared updates about their current and upcoming work in this area and opportunities for others in the network to share expertise and collaborate. To provide context of the current policy landscape and open up the discussions, we invited some guest speakers to share their work to address racial disparity - here are the highlights:

Experiences of Black and Mixed Heritage Boys in the Youth Justice System - HM Inspectorate of Probation and User Voice:

Helen Davies and Maria Jerram of HM Inspectorate of Probation, along with Hazel Scully and Rennel Gayle of User Voice, presented their findings and recommendations from the thematic inspection into the experiences of Black and mixed heritage boys within youth offending services and partner agencies. The inspection consisted of conversations and surveys with senior YOT managers, case managers, Magistrates, as well as conversations with black and mixed heritage boys within youth offending services themselves. User Voice highlighted ‘unfiltered’ feedback from speaking to the boys, including experiences of growing up in stressful and traumatic environments, facing discrimination and adultification, and poor relationships with the police. Some boys described positive relationships with YOT workers, whereas many were not engaged with or challenged by the interactions and interventions.

Following the presentation, discussions with AYJ members included the varying quality of ‘unconscious bias’ training and the dangers of practitioners’ assumptions in trying to understand the needs of individual children. Members were also keen to seek clarity around what ‘success’ would look like from the perspective of the inspectorate.

Disparity in the Youth Justice System: YJB Update

On behalf of the Youth Justice Board (YJB), Adam Mooney, Lead for Over-Represented Children, presented the YJB’s work to address racial disparity in the youth justice system. Adam shared some key achievements from the past year including the publication of multiple toolkits on identifying areas of disparity, disparity in re-offending, and disparity in a child’s journey in early years and throughout the justice system. He also shared highlights of the YJB’S ongoing work such as working with the Magistrates Association and others on the creation of a Joint National Protocol for Racial Disparity; continued diversionary work with the Alliance for Sport; and ongoing research to aide understanding of disparity using the principle of ‘explain or reform’. Adam concluded by inviting feedback from AYJ members on the YJB’s business planning for 2022-23.

Member reflections on the YJB summary included the need to consider the impacts of trauma in developing approaches focused on sport and physical activity, disparities facing Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller children, and the role of the specialist voluntary and community sector in supporting children from minoritised communities.

Our Members’ Meeting was an opportunity to hear about the important work underway from both our members and the wider sector, and to reinforce the need for urgent action to see substantive change in the experiences and outcomes for racially minoritised children in the criminal justice system.

To find out more or if you are interested in becoming involved in our network of members, please get in touch.