AYJ Response: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill - implications for children and the youth justice system
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 9th March 2021 and is due to have its second reading on 15th and 16th March 2021.
The Bill introduces a whole host of provisions with a range of impacts across the youth justice system, including serious violence prevention, policing, virtual justice in the courts, sentencing, remand, and criminal records. While there are some elements of the Bill which the AYJ welcomes, overall the legislation will have damaging life-long impacts on children and will exacerbate existing disparities and injustices. Read AYJ’s briefing in response to the Bill for further analysis of the proposals.
The proposals are out of line with our principles for youth justice policy, with the overall focus being disappointingly punitive. They are not grounded in the evidence on what works to reduce reoffending and deter crime, and risk further undermining trust in the criminal justice system.
Top ten takeaways for youth justice:
1. The measures will increase the number of children in custody
2. Racial disparities in the youth justice system will be further exacerbated
3. The Bill signals a concerning trend towards treating older children as adults
4. The Bill fails to introduce measures to effectively address child criminal exploitation and violence
5. The punitive focus of the Bill risks dragging more children further into the youth justice system
6. Reforms to reduce custodial remand are welcome but should go further
7. Reforms to childhood criminal records are positive but further action remains crucial
8. No regard has been given to children in the rollout of virtual justice
9. No consultation has taken place on these significant proposals
10. Rather than being ‘a radical new approach to sentencing’ the Bill represents missed opportunities for youth justice reform
Commenting on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, Pippa Goodfellow, Director of the Alliance for Youth Justice, said:
“This Bill supposedly sets out a radical new approach to sentencing. But in reality, it represents a raft of missed opportunities for necessary and meaningful reform, failing to address burning injustices in the youth justice system.
The government claims that addressing racial disparity is a priority, but the proposed measures come with an explicit acknowledgement that they will exacerbate existing inequalities. They believe that the disproportionate impact of the reforms is justifiable as a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.’ But the proposals for achieving this aim are far from legitimate, with no evidential basis.
A truly radical approach, covering wide-ranging issues of policing, crime, sentencing and courts, could have had transformative potential. But these measures signal a regressive and punitive direction of travel, set to entrench existing problems rather than taking the necessary and urgent action to address them.”