This report, commissioned by the Youth Justice Board (YJB), was published on 24 October 2024. The report, authored by the charity Revolving Doors, uses qualitative and quantitative research methods to appraise local programmes in England and Wales that carry out interventions with the aim of preventing children and young people from re-offending. The report showcases a range of promising practices across England and Wales, which can hopefully inform services in other areas of the country.
Details
The report was commissioned by the YJB to examine racial disparity and overrepresentation in the youth justice system. The report aims to identify practices or programmes where there is tangible evidence that disparity and overrepresentation have been addressed, or where outcomes defined by the organisation delivering the programme have been achieved. The report focuses on racial disparity because black children and those with mixed ethnicity continue to be over-represented throughout the different stages of the youth justice system. In particular:
- In 2022-2023, black children were involved in 20% of stop and searches (where ethnicity was known);
- Black children are 6.5 times more likely than white children to be strip-searched by police;
- Black children remain over-represented in custody, accounting for 26% of the youth custody population.
The initiatives outlined in the report aim to minimise re-offending and are considered to play an important role in ‘diversion’.
The report highlights 17 different initiatives, which it has broken down into themes, namely practices that involve (1) directly working with children and their families; (2) focusing on the voices of children and sharing their views in order to influence positive change; and finally (3) influencing policing practices. The outcomes of each initiative are examined by looking at a range of qualitative and quantitative metrics, including wellbeing, re-offending rates, employment, training and educational uptake and relationships with others.
Examples of each theme include:
- Practices involving directly working with children and families: most children in the youth justice system have experienced extremely challenging and often traumatic childhood experiences. Mentoring or adjacent services can help to acknowledge and attempt to address those experiences through social support and, ultimately, attempting to build personal resilience. One example is Spark2Life, an organisation that delivers a range of programmes for children in schools and children and young adults in the community, as well as training for professionals, with the aim to reduce and prevent harm and offending.
- Practice that seeks to elevate the voices of children in order to influence outcomes: when children are given a voice to participate in and design the work of youth justice services, research shows that their level of engagement, compliance and motivation to change increases. One example showcased in the report is the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s Youth Panel, which is made up of 40 children and young adults across England and Wales. The panel talk about their peers and helps to identify potential solutions to increase trust in police services. Although there is no explicit focus on addressing racial disparities, the initiatives give a voice to children in contact with youth justice and enable children to speak directly with commissioners.
- Influencing policing practices: research suggests that 37% of black children reported that they ‘completely distrust or ‘somewhat distrust’ the police compared with 11% of white children. One of the practices highlighted by the report is police stop and search training and development sessions. Training is also being undertaken in a pilot scheme called the ‘Child First Custody Training and Research Pilot’ (YJLC have been working collaboratively with the Met Police, the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association and the Youth Practitioners Association and Child Rights and Youth Justice CIC on this Pilot) which focuses on training criminal defence lawyers and police custody sergeants to change the way children are treated at the police station.
Commentary
This report will be particularly useful for practitioners working with children. The focus is on community-based practice which aligns with anti-racist and the Child First evidence base about what improves outcomes for children in youth justice. On a practical basis, the report could be referenced in Pre-Sentence Reports where appropriate, to highlight the issues and show where there is promising local practice tackling ethnic disparity and over-representation in youth justice across England and Wales.