Education and welfare at heart of Taylor's vision for youth justice

The government has published the long-awaited final report of Charlie Taylor's review of the youth justice system.

Containing a total of 36 recommendations, the report calls for changes across all areas of the system, from how children are dealt with by police, through to efforts to rehabilitate those who get on the wrong side of the law.

Here, youth justice experts consider findings from the review - and the government response to it - on four key issues.

Secure estate conditions

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns, Howard League for Penal Reform:

"While the crisis in the adult estate has gripped the headlines, the plight of children in prisons - where conditions have deteriorated and levels of restraint, violence and self-harm have soared - has largely gone unnoticed.

It is welcome that the government has acknowledged that these problems exist and that they require "urgent" attention. Although this acknowledgement is a huge step forward, the solutions suggested, such as a 20 per cent increase in staffing and improvements in training, are a stopgap solution at best.

There are also lessons to be learnt from adult prisons, where the recent focus on staff recruitment has not transpired into additional boots on the wings, because of problems in retaining staff.

The problem lies in the institutions themselves. Both the so-called YOIs and secure training centres (STCs) are fundamentally failed forms of imprisonment and should be closed.

The number of children in custody has fallen, and that is welcome, but there are still far too many children held needlessly on remand and serving ineffective short-term sentences.

The record high proportion of black and minority ethnic children in custody shames us all and requires urgent attention.

The Taylor review covers many of these overarching issues, but the Ministry of Justice (MoJ)appears to have parked (at best) or ignored (at worst) much of the resulting recommendations.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the fundamental questions are being ducked. Ultimately, the Howard League is clear that the solutions in youth justice lie outside the prison walls."


Local authority role