Responding recently to a consultation on new sentencing guidelines, the Youth Justice Board (YJB) called for an end to the "unconscious bias" within the court system against black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) children and young people.
The YJB has long highlighted concerns about the disproportionately high number of BAME young people throughout the youth justice system, adding in its consultation response that "this overrepresentation increases at the point of sentencing".
Latest YJB figures show that in June, 46 per cent (411) of the 890 under-18s in youth custody were of BAME background compared to 53 per cent (471) who were white.
This is a substantial rise compared with the recent peak in youth custody figures, in June 2008, when the proportion of young people who were of BAME background stood at 25 per cent, compared to 67 per cent who were white.
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