Campaigners back Tory pledge to make youth custody safer for ethnic minorities

The party has made the promise as part of a wider commitment to improve equality. It said it will introduce legislation if the "disproportionate" use of force against BAME young people in custody continues.

"We will reduce the disproportionate use of force against black, Asian and ethnic minority people in prison, young offender institutions and secure mental health units and we will legislate here too if progress is not made," the manifesto states.

According to latest Ministry of Justice figures for 2015/16 the three groups of young people in custody most likely to have force used against them are those from BAME groups, girls and those aged between 10 and 14.

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform has welcomed the inclusion of the promise in the Conservatives' manifesto.

"There are certainly concerns that BAME children are more likely to be restrained in custody and this is borne out in the most recent youth justice annual statistics. It is therefore welcome to see the Conservatives address this in their manifesto."

However, he has said that any efforts to reduce the use of force against the group should also look at the wider issue of over-representation of BAME young people in the youth justice system.

A Ministry of Justice report last November found that during 2014 BAME boys aged between 10 and 17 were 35 per cent more likely to be arrested than young people of white ethnicity. Latest youth custody figures show that 42.1 per cent of all young people in the under-18 secure estate are BAME.
 
"Any effort to reduce the use of force against BAME children should also look at why so many end up in custody in the first place," Neilson said.

Next month new Sentencing Council guidelines come into force, requiring courts to take into account the ethnicity of young people when sentencing.