Statement from The Children's Society in response to the Fresh Start report
15 July 2010
We welcome the Fresh Start report by the Independent Commission for Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour and its focus on the three principles of Prevention, Restoration and Integration. The report puts forward a number of proposals for much-needed reform to the youth justice system. We hope the Government will give the report due consideration as it develops its own youth justice strategy.
The Children's Society believes that restorative and community-based interventions should underpin all policy and practice when working with children in trouble with the law. We believe prevention and early intervention should be the focus of our efforts to ensure that children are not criminalised. We also welcome the Commission's call for a distinct system for working with children in trouble that takes into account their developmental needs and a custody threshold to ensure that custody is truly used as a last resort for children.
However, The Children's Society feel that the Commission has missed a number of crucial opportunities: one is the need to raise the age of criminal responsibility, which is one of the lowest in Europe. We also believe that we need to go much further to eliminate the mass criminalisation of young people by reforming approaches to 'antisocial' behaviour by young people - for example using ASBOs on young people. Such measures are counterproductive and do more to alienate children within the community rather than creating cohesion and mutual respect.
It's also worth noting that levels of deprivation and inequality are likely to affect the success of any youth justice reforms and the Ministry of Justice must work closely with other Departments to counteract this and truly ensure that children's best interest is paramount and that they are given the best chances to succeed in life.
