Give judges power to transfer youth cases to family courts, says YJB chief

Speaking at the YJB annual convention in Birmingham, the organisation’s chief executive John Drew said that despite reductions in overall numbers of under-18s in custody, there are still children in prison who “shouldn’t be there”.

He told delegates that judges and magistrates presiding in youth cases should be afforded the power to direct a “small number of cases” to family courts.

“We all know there are children who find themselves in the criminal justice world and need to be somewhere very different indeed,” he said. “It is time we really started to look afresh at that proposition.”

Such a move would replicate the more welfare-based approach to offending behaviour adopted by a number of Scandinavian countries.

Drew, who is set to retire from the YJB early next year, also called on local authorities and youth justice agencies to protect effective aspects of the secure estate in the face of a government review launched this week.

He said the government review offered opportunities to redesign existing custodial and resettlement arrangements but warned that significant developments such as a new restraint system, the re-introduction of social workers in young offender institutions and a risk-based approach to searching, should not be jeopardised.

“We must make sure that in any rebuilding of custody, we do not lose those hard-won embellishments of the system.”

Drew also reiterated the YJB’s desire to see the full cost of custody devolved to local authorities, in spite of setbacks for the justice reinvestment pathfinder initiative.

Despite the fact that Birmingham has pulled out halfway through the pilot programme and two of the remaining three areas – West London and North East London – are yet to confirm their continued involvement – Drew said devolution of custody budgets remains a key aim.

“The YJB remains committed to long-term financial arrangements to bring together community and custodial budgets to facilitate sensible decisions,” he said.