Page 64 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

3.15 As such, criminal justice agencies should pilot and evaluate the use of
restorative practice circles. These should be tailored to local needs, and
implemented by relevant Youth Offending Teams and include police, CPS,
defence lawyers, magistrates and the judiciary. They should be a forum where
everyone can safely and openly discuss their experiences within the YJS,
including harmful experiences, without feeling challenged. Should evaluation
show positive results, restorative practice should be embedded within the YJS
as part of regular engagement efforts by these agencies.

Cultural competency initiatives

3.16 Improving the diversity of the criminal justice workforce will contribute to
improved cultural competency and outcomes for BAME children and young
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adults. For example, JUSTICE’s report, Increasing Judicial Diversity,
highlighted ways to improve the diversity of the judiciary. It is predicated on
the understanding that cognitive and cultural diversity enables the best
decisions to be made and improves legitimacy. We endorse this report and note
that all criminal justice agencies, including the legal profession – other than
the CPS – currently lack suitable diversity. This must change. However,
diversity is not a panacea to racial disparity, for two main reasons. First, a
discriminatory system will discriminate, regardless of who pulls the levers; the
processes must change. Second, increased diversity alone is not inherently
culturally competent. It provides no tangible comfort to the outcomes for a
Black boy before a White magistrate, and it does not aid an Indian judge’s
understanding of a GRT child’s upbringing.

3.17 It is essential that criminal justice actors are able to understand the
communities that they serve, as well as reflect on their own inherent biases and
any racist behaviours. While a range of programmes and guidance already exist
throughout the CJS, we consider that there remains significant room for
improvement. A comprehensive diversity training programme is required
that is fit for purpose, encompassing written guidance, 188 cultural
competency and bias training, and reverse mentoring. Such programmes
should be run in all criminal justice agencies and developed together with a

187 JUSTICE, Increasing Judicial Diversity, (2017).
188 For example, the Equal Treatment Bench Book is a useful resource for judges that details the
structural difficulties different groups face. On its own, however, we consider its benefit for accused
children appearing in court is minimal.

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