Page 103 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Demands for equality need to be as complicated as the inequalities they attempt to
address. ― Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About
Race

5.1 This report stands in a long line of reviews and inquiries that have interrogated
racial disparities in the criminal justice system. The issues are undoubtedly
broad and complex, involving many interconnecting parts, different actors, and
multiple agencies. Nevertheless, at the root remains bias and prejudice; either
on the part of decision-makers, or the processes within which they work. In
many cases, these have become firmly embedded in the institutional culture of
the organisations themselves. The sad result is the failure of the criminal justice
system to meet the legitimate expectations of BAME communities that they,
and their children, should be treated fairly with dignity and respect; as is more
freely afforded to their White counterparts. This Working Party was convened
on the basis that current progress is not keeping pace with the urgent demands
for equal, and thereby, fair justice

5.2 Despite their complexity, the problems are well known. BAME children
continue to be more likely than their White counterparts to be stopped and
searched, less likely to benefit from diversion, and are at greater risk of
spending lengthy periods in custody on remand, sometimes locked in their cells
for up to 23 hours with no family visits resulting from COVID-19 related
restrictions. These issues are supported by decades of evidence. We add our
voices to those who have, for years, demonstrated and articulated, the problem.
It is understandable that many are fatigued with repeated reviews, and
promises of action that are yet to be fulfilled. Change is urgently needed to
review, abolish, or amend the offending policy decisions and practices that
enable ever greater discrimination of BAME children to persist.

5.3 That said, we remain hopeful that change can happen and, more, that those
who work within the justice system are driven to make it happen. Our report
has shown that good practices do exist; albeit too often in an ad hoc, piecemeal
fashion, with the main beneficiaries being White, as opposed to BAME,
children. We now have an opportunity to be world-leading in how we deal with
race and children within our justice system.

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