Home Affairs Committee Report On Serious Youth Violence

The Commons Select Committee has published a report on Serious youth violence. In the report, the Home Affairs Committee state the current picture of serious youth violence noting that knife crime offences have risen by over 70% in the past five years. Moreover, the report highlights the growing number of young males being murdered.

The report calls the rise in serious youth violence a social emergency. It states that whilst the committee supports the Government’s public health approach to tackling the issue, the Serious Violence Strategy is completely inadequate. Furthermore, calling all non-policing interventions ‘public-health’ approaches does not match the reality of interventions taking place.

The report suggests that in order to tackle the issue effectively, better leadership and focus is needed for the Serious Violence Strategy. Also, more action needs to be taken to counter issues such as county-lines.

Source: www.parliament.uk

New programme to protect children at risk of exploitation

Children most at risk of being targeted by gangs or violent crime will benefit from better support from specialists across education, health, social care, police and the voluntary sector in a programme launched by Education Secretary Damian Hinds.

The new ‘Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme’ is designed to improve how different local areas respond to child exploitation – such as gang, ‘county lines’ drug dealing, online grooming, sexual exploitation, trafficking or modern slavery – backed by £2 million. It will help equip professionals involved in the protection of young people to identify those most at risk from dangers in their communities and online.

Exploitation can take a variety of forms, and often there is a link between the threats vulnerable young people are exposed to. The National Crime Agency (NCA) found that in 2017 more than a third (35 per cent) of police forces reported evidence of child sexual exploitation in relation to so-called ‘county lines’ activity – a practice used by criminals of using children and young people to traffic drugs from one region to another, often in rural areas.

Every council in England will be able to apply for bespoke support from the scheme to tackle specific threats in their area, bringing social workers, police forces, schools, health services and charities together to improve how they respond to cases of exploitation, and learn from what works.

Concordat on children in custody

The Home Office has issued statutory guidance on the Concordat on children in custody aimed at helping police forces and local authorities better understand their responsibilities towards children in custody.

The Concordat was with the intention of improving understanding, and helping forces and local authorities build effective collaboration at a local level. The aim of the concordat is to decrease the number of children held in custody overnight, as well as to outline the protocol for how transfers should work in practice.

The guidance can be read here.

Source: Gov.uk

Age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales ‘too low’ says watchdog

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has called on lawmakers to raise the age at which a child can be deemed responsible for committing and crime which, at 10, is the lowest in Europe.

Despite a significant reduction in the number of children in custody in recent years, England and Wales have the highest level of child imprisonment in western Europe. The EHRC argues at the UN Committee against Torture that exposing young children to a judicial system may have harmful effects on their wellbeing and development, and would make them more likely to re-offend as adults.

The EHRC also raised significant concerns about the welfare of children in youth custody, highlighting that prison conditions are deteriorating and the use of segregation and restraint, including pain-inducing restraint, is increasing.

New prison anti-corruption taskforce unveiled

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced the creation of a specialist taskforce that will aim to tackle staff corruption in jails. The Counter Corruption Unit will pursue anyone suspected of corrupt activity in prison and probation services across England and Wales. The unit will work closely with law enforcement agencies to prosecute anyone who smuggles items into prisons or obstructs the ability of the MoJ to supervise offenders in the community.

The unit, comprising of 29 specialist staff split into a national team and five regional teams,
 has been announced as part of a wider crackdown on crime behind bars that includes new guidance on countering corruption and reporting wrongdoing for prison and probation staff.

Crime in Prison Referral Agreement

The Government has published an update of its crime in prison referral agreement. The document sets out the agreement between HM Prison & Probation Service, the National Police Chief’s Council and the Crown Prosecution Service on the referral, investigation and prosecution of crimes committed in prisons.

The agreement aims to ensure that acts of criminality that occur in prison are properly addressed within the Criminal Justice system and establishes a common understanding of the roles and responsibilities of HMPPS, the police and the CPS, to achieve an improved and consistent performance in the investigation and prosecution of offences in a custodial setting.

Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit

The Government has published a child exploitation disruption toolkit. This toolkit, designed for law enforcement, social care, education, housing and the voluntary sector, is to safeguard children and young people under the age of 18 from sexual and criminal exploitation. It intends to set out the legislative powers, such as orders and injunctions, available to police and other safeguarding professionals in the following areas:

• Abduction and trafficking
• Sexual offences
• Victim care
• Unusual or harmful behaviour
• Location of specific concern.

In addition, the toolkit includes best practice in information sharing, multi-agency working, and intelligence and evidence gathering.

Discrimination Against BAME children in the Youth Justice System

An article published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies discussing the State of Children’s Rights in England report, has highlighted the need to alter the response to children in conflict with the law, particularly BAME children.

The article gives the statistic that BAME children make up 45% of the custodial estate despite making up 18% of the 10-17 year old population. Moreover, the proportion of black children given a youth caution or sentence in the last year is three times that of the general 10-17 years old population.

The article also references the controversies around the Gangs Matrix on which 87% of people were from a BAME background and 78% were black.

Source: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies

Government Issues Updated Guidance For YOTs

The government have issued updated guidance aimed at youth offending teams and managers. Included in the updates is guidance for preparing using reports; the role of youth offending teams in court; and how to assess children in the youth justice system.

The Guidance also contains links to additional information.

Source: Gov.uk

Updated Guidance regarding the use of Community Interventions

Following the publication of the 2019 standards for children in the youth justice system, the Government has published updated guidance regarding the use of community interventions.

The guidance offers detailed information for youth offending teams on: sentences available; case management; levels of intervention; managing diversity and tackling potential barriers to engagement; out-of-care cases; working with other agencies; working to support desistance; risk of harm to self and others; encouraging compliance and early revocation; working with denial; and enforcement and breach.

The guidance also offers information for managers on: oversight of delivery; intervention programmes; out-of-area cases; suspensions of supervision arrangements (including holidays); responses to particular offence types; managing groups, working with victims; restorative processes; ensuring desistance is supported; and managing risk of harm and safeguarding.

Source: GOV.UK