Page 15 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) should be interpreted in
harmony with international law. Further, section 11 of the Children Act 2004
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contains a duty for local authorities and the police to have regard to the welfare
and protection of children. Section 44 of the Children and Young Person Act
1933 places a similar duty on courts. Moreover, the Youth Justice Board’s
(YJB) ‘National Standards’ for the YJS aim to promote the “child first”
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principle. In terms of racial equality, the Equality Act 2010 places a duty
on public sector institutions, requiring them to ensure different groups are not
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treated differently and/or unfairly. These duties should form the foundation
of any inquiry into suspected crime among BAME children.

1.7 We recognise that there have been some positive developments in the YJS. The
total number of children arrested has reduced by over two-thirds in the past
decade. Likewise, the number of first-time entrants (FTEs), as well as
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children held in custody, is decreasing significantly. However, the reductions
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have primarily been achieved through large reductions in White children at
each stage of the YJS. As a result, the proportion of Black FTEs has increased
from 8% to 16%, and FTEs from an Asian background have increased from
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5% to 7%. .

18 As the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held in Neulinger v Switzerland (2010) 54 EHRR
1087 §131 (endorsed by Baroness Hale in ZH (Tanzania) v SSHD [2011] 2 AC 166 §21): “The [ECHR]
cannot be interpreted in a vacuum but must be interpreted in harmony with the general principles of
international law. Account should be taken … of “any relevant rules of international law applicable in
the relations between the parties”, and in particular the rules concerning the international protection of
human rights.”
19 Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, ‘Annual report and accounts’, September 2020.
20 Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 sets out the general equality duty.

21 See also the infographic, Youth Justice Board, ‘Exploring Racial Disparity’, August 2020.
22 Howard League for Penal Reform ‘Child arrests in England and Wales 2019’, 2020.
23 However, this reduction follows what was a substantial upsurge in the criminalisation and
imprisonment of children over successive Governments from the 1990s and early 2000s. Recent data
shows the custodial population of children as declining from this previous high. See T. Bateman, The
state of youth justice 2017: an overview of trends and developments, (National Association for Youth
Justice, 2017), p.13.
24 Youth Justice Board and Ministry of Justice, Youth Justice Statistics 2018/19: England & Wales,
January 2020, p. 11.

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