More needs to be done to avoid children being held on remand, says report

Latest figures from the Youth Justice Board’s annual report for 2020/21 show that despite a year-on-year decrease of nine per cent in the youth custody population, the average number of children held on remand has remained about the same.

It says this drop in the overall youth custodial population has resulted in an increase in the proportion of children on remand to 31 per cent, up from 28 per cent recorded for 2018/19.

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The report also highlights a fall in the number of children in the youth justice system across all ethnic groups - for the first time children from a white background accounted for less than half of the custodial population - but says some ethnicities are still over-represented.

Research from 2019/20 shows black children are still more than four times more likely to be arrested and more than three times more likely to receive a caution or sentence than white children.

A joint foreword to the report written by Claudia Sturt and Colin Allars, the board’s chief executive and accounting officers, says: “Black children are more likely to be held in custody on remand, receive generally harsher penalties and, shockingly, children from ethnic minorities, now make up more than half of all children in custody.”

The report says this trend is also reflected in figures for first time entrants (FTEs) which despite showing a continual decrease for white children, who made up 75 per cent of FTEs in 2019, remained unchanged for those from black backgrounds who accounded for 16 per cent of the youth custody population in 2019/20.

Children’s rights charity Article 39 said while it welcomed news that numbers of children in custody were continuing to fall, the report’s findings still served as a “depressing reminder” of imprisoning vulnerable children.

“That more than half of locked up children come from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities brings shame on our country,” said Carolyne Willow, the charity’s director.

The report also highlights concern that the number of interventions using restraint and self-harm incidents involving children in custody has risen in the last year.

The board said it had contributed to several reviews and policy developments in this area.

Its chief executive officer had been asked to chair a panel in response to an independent review of pain-inducing techniques in the youth secure estate, it added.

However, Willow said the charity could not endorse the government’s appointment to the independent panel set up in response to the Charlie Taylor review.

“Appointments to this incredibly important panel should have been made following an open recruitment process with the protection of children and their rights at its core,” she said.