Page 9 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

This report makes 45 recommendations which seek to increase decision-makers’
understanding of the child appearing before them. In doing so, our aim is to eradicate,
and if not, minimise, the bias, suspicion and misperception that pervades
discriminatory exercise of power. In this way, we hope that criminal justice agencies
will be able to meet BAME communities’ expectations of fair and impartial treatment
at each stage of, and interaction with, the criminal justice system. We suggest ways
to build a child-first approach into the justice system, with sources of bias and
discrimination addressed through changes to policy, institutional culture, and
practices. While no one report can undo years of structural racism, we hope to support
the continued efforts of communities seeking equal justice.

Suspicion of BAME children

The justice system too readily treats BAME children as inherently prone to
criminality. This inevitably results in an alienating and traumatic experience for
individuals and the communities that they live in. The continued use of stop and
search has worsened these experiences; treating BAME children as objects of
suspicion, despite the evidence that shows it is ineffective at managing and deterring
crime. For this reason, we call for the police’s section 60 powers under the Criminal
Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to be immediately suspended, and subject to
review. The implementation of neighbourhood policing and provision of mandatory
de-escalation training for police officers are equally essential to build BAME
children’s confidence in policing. Equally, the Gangs Violence Matrix should be
abolished, and in the interim deployed as a welfare, not a policing, tool.

Systemic racism has left Black culture repeatedly under attack in this country. One
of the most profound examples is the misuse of Drill music to secure convictions. We
recommend an overhaul in how this is used as evidence to ensure that it is always
relevant and deployed with objectivity.

For Muslim children, we echo the calls to re-start the inquiry into the Government’s
‘counter-terrorism’ programme, PREVENT, in a form that has the confidence of
Muslim communities, to ensure that discrimination is fully addressed. Likewise,

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