Three quarters of young people awaiting sentence remanded in custody, inspectors find
Amrit Virdi
Monday, November 27, 2023
Less than a quarter of young people awaiting sentence are being offered bail programmes, compared with more than three quarters who are held in custody, according to a new report.
The report from HM Inspectorate of Probation, HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Ofsted, based on a joint thematic inspection of work with children on remand, found that remanded children make up an increasing proportion of the child custodial population, but more could be safely managed in the community.
The number of total bail remands has fallen from 15,042 in 2018 to 8,331 in 2022, with only 1,000 children receiving community remands with intervention in 2022.
Representation of black and minority ethnic children on remand was also found to be significantly high, as 58 per cent of children remanded were from ethnic minority groups in March last year.
The inspection also found that children from black and mixed heritage backgrounds were treated as if they were older than their actual age at key points in the remand system, stating that there was a “phenomenon of adultification, where black boys are perceived as being older than they are, and treated in ways that are inappropriate to their age.”
The report includes a case study of 17-year-old Blake who was remanded in custody for offences including aggravated burglary and possession of an offensive weapon. Bail was rejected, even though Blake was not previously known to youth justice services.
He had no history of risk to the public, and on his first contact with the justice system was immediately placed in a young offender institution, which was described as "adultification" when discussed with the case manager, according to the report.
Children were also found to be on remand because suitable accommodation wasn’t available, however young offender institutions had a lack of basic necessities such as education, clothing or pocket money to pay for phone calls to families, inspectors found.
The report also includes the case study of Finn, who was remanded after his 18th birthday. He was recorded as being remanded in the youth custody estate when in fact he was placed on adult remand, and wasn’t transferred to a youth probation service, meaning the youth justice system couldn’t provide Finn with usual support as he was an adult in the adult prison estate.
Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s national director for social care said: “Local authority children’s services are working under increasing pressures to deliver the best outcomes they can for children. However, better collaboration is needed with youth justice services to ensure looked-after children receive the services they are entitled to, and the right support at the right time.”
The joint inspection calls for more support services to be available to children returning to their communities. Recommendations include making sure that financial assistance, family contact and accommodation options are supported, as well as more detailed, audit information on children at every stage of decision making, including ethnic disparities.
Interim chief inspector of probation, Sue McAllister, said: “While we acknowledge that for some children remand into youth detention is necessary due to the severity of an alleged crime, we found that more could be safely managed in the community. Where effective and wide-ranging support is in place, youth justice services can properly care for a child, monitor their risk of serious harm, and place them in suitable accommodation. We want to see a more streamlined approach to managing children from the very start, in the hope that they can be properly assessed, and that remand does not become the default option.”
HMI Prisons also reported last week that the majority people in custody have been in care.
