Page 68 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

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conclude that such disparities are caused by bias among judges.
Nevertheless, we consider that an increased understanding of what can drive a
child’s criminal behaviour should reduce disparities in sentencing outcomes.

3.27 We have heard that sentencing disparities may occur for two main reasons.
First, sentencers may consider BAME children to pose a higher risk of
(re)offending, most likely due to a misperception that they are more mature
(and therefore more culpable for their actions) than their White counterparts.
Second, sentencers may not have confidence in, or be aware of, the range of
available non-custodial options.

Diversion

3.28 Diversion is a key moment in the journey of the child through the YJS where
ensuring children are treated equally and fairly makes all the difference to their
future prospects. This is because BAME children are less likely to be diverted
than their White counterpart. 197 Diversion ensures that when a child commits
a less serious crime, the YJS acts to provide support and address the underlying
issues, rather than focus on punitive measures, which often increase the risk of
reoffending.

3.29 Although data for diversion is patchy, statistics for First Time Entrants (FTEs)
suggest that more White children are offered diversion than BAME children.
The reasons underlying this are complex. They include feelings of distrust on
the part of such children that the CJS will act fairly and so the required (and
perhaps unnecessary) “admission” generally required to access diversion is not
forthcoming. Likewise, as we set out in the previous chapter, police officers
may not recommend a child for diversion due to the offence they are suspected
of committing. As indicated in Chapter 2, we have heard that in one area, GRT
children are not offered diversion due to the erroneous belief that they would

196 Ibid, “This research cannot shed light on the reasons for this finding; however, technically there are
two potential (non-mutually exclusive) explanations:
• There are biases in the sentencing of Black children.
• There are other factors that could explain this difference (such as plea, type and quality of
representation, etc.) and we do not control for them in this research as they are not recorded in
the data.”
197 Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, Ethnic disproportionality in remand and sentencing in
the youth justice system, January 2021.

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