Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation has taken a closer look at the experiences of these boys and the support they receive from youth offending services and partner agencies.
Overall, we found significant deficits in the quality of support. This was disappointing, especially when so many of these boys have complex and multiple needs. Half the boys in our sample had faced racial discrimination in their lives, a third had been victims of criminal exploitation, and a quarter had a disability.
Yet we found many of these boys only received help for the first time when they came to the attention of youth offending services. Black and mixed heritage boys are more likely than their white peers to be excluded from school and are less likely to be referred to Early Help services.
We have to ask why this is happening. Why are social services, education teams and other agencies not intervening sooner? Early detection of problems would have led to different outcomes for these children – so why are many of these children only receiving support with these needs for the first time through the criminal justice system. This is simply unacceptable.
Our inspectors found pockets of good news. For example, Lewisham YOS is developing an anti-racist strategy. Manchester YJS runs joint training with magistrates to build understanding of their approach to working with ethnic minority children. Leeds YJS is involved in an innovative project regarding out-of-court disposals.
We also found some practitioners formed good relationships with the children they supervise and their parents/carers, although there is a tendency to involve mothers more readily than fathers.
However, the Inspectorate found some practitioners lack the confidence to talk to the boys and their families about discrimination, culture and the specific challenges they face because of their ethnicity. The impact of somebody’s ethnicity on their life is simply too important to ignore.
A child’s experiences will affect their behaviour and motivations, as well as how they engage with youth justice services. For example, several of the boys spoke about their experiences of being stopped and searched by police – as often as four or five times a week. When Hackney Youth Offending Service asked police to examine a sample of local stop and search records for black boys in their borough, they found there were insufficient grounds for stop and search in two-thirds of cases. It is little wonder that some of these boys are left feeling negatively towards the justice system.
Our report concludes with national recommendations for the Youth Justice Board, Home Office, Department for Education, police forces and local authorities including publication of local data on stop and search by age as well as ethnicity and that academy chains and local
authorities should be held to account for monitoring racial disproportionality in the rate of permanent school exclusions.
- Read the full report and share it with colleagues: A thematic inspection of the experiences of black and mixed heritage boys in the youth justice system.
- The Inspectorate will be holding an online event in early November to promote the key findings from this report. If you are interested in attending, please follow us on Twitter (@HMIProbation) or on LinkedIn (search ‘HM Inspectorate of Probation’). The Inspectorate will also publish an effective practice guide later this year.
Justin Russell is HM Chief Inspector of Probation
