Speaking at the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services conference on Monday, John Drew said that it must make more use of the media to show the difference youth justice programmes can make to young offenders.
"In the youth justice world we have the most extraordinary stories of atonement and redemption and yet we shy away from that language," he said. "Yet when I look at what the main filmmakers and drama writers in our society are writing about today they’re often writing about those themes. There’s clearly an appetite for such stories."
He added that the youth justice community needed to "aggressively sell" its success stories to the media in order to ensure its long-term survival. "It is by selling that view that what we do is important that we build public support for our work," he said.
He also called for the extension of more informal approaches to working with young offenders and for the youth justice system to find more ways of helping young people connect with broader welfare services, such as housing and health, instead of trying to act as a "faux welfare service" that addresses all the young people’s needs.
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