Number of children entering youth justice system increases for first time in a decade
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, January 25, 2024
The number of children entering the youth justice system has increased for the first time in 10 years, with more younger children becoming known to services.
In the year to 31 March 2023, the number of children entering the justice system for the first time increased by one per cent on the previous year to 8,400 – the first increase since 2012, according to latest figures from the Youth Justice Board (YJB).
While the figure is 72 per cent lower than the number of children having first contact with the system in 2012, the recent increase is down to higher levels of younger children entering the system, the YJB warns.
The number of 10- to 14-year-olds entering the youth justice system for the first time increased by seven per cent in the year to March 2023 compared with the previous year.
Meanwhile, there has been a one per cent drop in 15- to 17-year-olds entering the youth justice system for the first time.
YJB chair Keith Fraser said he wants to “understand this shift in the increase in younger children entering the youth justice system”, calling it “a clear indicator that now more than ever we must push for early intervention from services to stop children entering the system”.
Fraser added that “an overwhelming majority of the children who came through the youth justice system have complex backgrounds and needs”, citing pre-pandemic statistics which found that in 2019, 72 per cent of children entering the justice system had speech, language, and communication concerns.
“The challenges of Covid-19 lockdowns, remote schooling and social restrictions mean these figures are likely to be even more pronounced today,” he said calling on “policing, social services, health, education and the third sector to work together to prevent young children entering the youth justice system”.
The latest statistics also highlight concerns over high proportions of children in custody on remand.
In the year to 31 March 2023, the average number of children held on remand accounted for 44 per cent of all children in youth custody, the largest proportion in the last ten years and five percentage points higher than the previous year.
However, almost two thirds of children remanded to youth detention accommodation did not subsequently receive a custodial sentence.
Fraser also described “rays of hope” evident in the latest figures which show that the number of children in custody is at its lowest on record with an average of 440 children detained.
The number of children cautioned or sentenced decreased by four per cent compared with last year.
Fraser added: “While black children and those with mixed ethnicity continue to be over-represented across most stages of the youth justice system, there have been promising reductions in the proportions of black children across several areas including arrests, youth cautions, first time entrants, sentencing and children in custody.”
The number of black children in custody decreased by nine per cent compared with the year ending March 2022, the largest decrease of any ethnicity and there has been an eight per cent decrease from the previous year in the number of black first-time entrants to the youth justice system.
“This will be the third year we have seen improvements in disproportionality, although there is still a long way to go,” Fraser said.
The statistics come as Labour Party leader Keir Starmer announced proposals for a series of new youth hubs across the country as part of a plan to reduce knife crime and child criminal exploitation.
