As CYP Now revealed last week, YJB chief executive Ellie Roy is leaving against her wishes. And this week, a report by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Ten years of Labour's Youth Justice Reforms: An Independent Audit, issues a scathing verdict of the system (see p3).
Spending on youth justice has increased in real terms by 45 per cent since 2000/01 while government targets to reduce youth crime levels, first-time entrants to the youth justice system and reoffending rates have all been missed. It would be disingenuous and naive to blame this squarely on the YJB and the 156 YOTs. Police targets for offences brought to justice and the now-discarded Respect agenda have played a big part in fuelling the numbers of children entering the criminal justice system. This is why the YJB has had to allocate two-thirds of its budget to purchasing custodial places and only five per cent on the prevention work it has championed. Missed government targets come despite the work of the YJB and YOTs, not because of them.
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