Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Paragraph: 74
We are aware of the work the Ministry of Justice and Youth Custody Service have...
Recommendation
We are aware of the work the Ministry of Justice and Youth Custody Service have done since publication of the Lammy Review to address disproportionality. The youth justice population has changed considerably in the past 10 years, but children from BAME backgrounds continue to be disproportionately represented, with outcomes getting worse in some areas. We are particularly concerned about the disproportionate number of children held in custody who are from BAME backgrounds - 51.9% of the whole cohort as of May 2020. Race disproportionality is significant and fundamental, visible in every part of the youth justice system. We recommend that the Ministry of Justice set out what resource has been allocated to addressing disproportionality. We are not convinced that disproportionality has satisfactorily been “explained or reformed”. The Ministry should also provide the Committee with detailed research setting out why these communities are so 48 Children and Young People in Custody (Part 1): Entry into the youth justice system disproportionately represented in each part of the system, including the cause of their disproportionate imprisonment. The Ministry should set out what action is being taken and resources allocated.
Paragraph Reference:
74
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
33. We want people to have confidence in a justice system that is fair and open—one where no person suffers discrimination of any sort. We share deeply the concerns about where we are now in terms of disproportionality. We will continue to prioritise the understanding and tackling of disproportionality within the youth justice system and recognise the absolute need for systemic change. 34. In terms of resource, efforts to better understand and tackle racial disparity in the Criminal Justice system are part of the mainstream responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice and partner organisations, both in terms of people and funding. Under the Public Sector Equality Duty, we also have responsibilities to understand and tackle disparities as part of our regular work, be that policy making, ongoing operational improvement, data and analysis or in other areas. As such, even where there are in some cases dedicated teams or project budgets, counting this alone would fail to capture the actual level of resourcing for work that addresses race. 35. Our commitment to explain or reform is ongoing—this is not something that is ‘complete’, nor do we expect changes we make to have instant impact—these are deep- rooted issues. A wide range of data around race is included within the Youth Justice Statistics annual publication. A broader overview of over-representation data is provided in the YJB’s ‘Exploring Racial Disparity’ data presentation, [...truncated...]