Page 11 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

Building BAME Children’s confidence in the YJS

The criminal justice system must earn BAME children’s confidence that they will be
treated fairly, with dignity and respect. This can be achieved through ensuring
specialists make decisions about children, making consistent decisions, and properly
holding criminal justice agencies to account.

We have found that the provision of training for lawyers who represent children and
young adults requires greater focus, accompanied by appropriate levels of
remuneration reflecting the specialist skills needed. Further, there is considerable
scope to improve bail processes, and the decisions to remand in custody. Likewise,
we have seen that the police are too often not properly held to account when they fall
short of the common standards BAME communities are entitled to expect. The
Independent Office of Police Conduct must be empowered to investigate serious
complaints fully, especially where they concern children.

Finally, in analysing the decision-making processes of the courts, we have found that
there is insufficient data to make a proper assessment of potential bias. This is
unacceptable, and we recommend that the Ministry of Justice engage with academics
who research sentencing data so that this is urgently reviewed.

The criminal justice system is failing this country’s BAME children, and as a
consequence its credibility is at stake. These recommendations are designed to tackle
a longstanding complex problem. They cannot be effective in isolation. They must
be accompanied by a genuine commitment on the part of all criminal justice agencies
to make changes not only to their policies, but to their culture and approach to BAME
communities. This report, if implemented, would act as an essential step on that
journey.

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