The Alliance for Youth Justice, Agenda and the Revolving Doors Agency are among a raft of charities and campaign organisations who claim parts of the new Bill discriminate against people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) as well as Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities.
Such clauses include increasing the maximum sentence for assaulting emergency workers from 12 months to two years, the criminalisation of trespass and new police powers for encampments, the increased use of diversionary schemes and community cautions and mandatory minimum sentences for crimes including knife offences and repeat drug trafficking.
In an extensive report calling for the clauses to be removed, the coalition highlights that “black, Asian and minority ethnic children make up more than half of all children in custody, and they are more likely to be sent to prison to await trial and receive harsher sentences than white children.”
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