YJB chair Keith Fraser: We need to talk about Black Lives Matter more

Most days during lockdown, Keith Fraser has been posting upbeat messages on Twitter to lift the spirits of his social media followers. The day he speaks to CYP Now, his tweet is typically positive: “Don’t fear the unknown, relish it. That’s how you grow!” It is fair to say that Fraser, who took over as chair of the Youth Justice Board in April following a distinguished career in the police service, will need to harness this optimitic approach during his three-year tenure if he is to successfully tackle long-standing problems in the youth justice system and emerging ones as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

What impact has Covid-19 had on young people in trouble with the law?

It’s made those children who are vulnerable more vulnerable. It has impacted on their mental health, education and employment opportunities. For children in the justice system, we have got to look at them through the same lens as we do safeguarding.

Youth offending teams (YOTs) have had issues around maintaining direct contact with children, but I’ve been impressed with how they have found ways around it and adapted how they operate by using digital engagement. Also, I’ve heard of YOTs checking on the welfare of children when doing visits, which is amazing.

Some YOTs are asking children to write letters to care home residents, and others are setting lockdown tasks for the children to keep them occupied.

There are issues around isolation, but staff have tried to increase contact with phones and other media in response. It is harder to spot things like child exploitation, gang involvement or domestic abuse. There are situations that could arise where children could be more vulnerable but be less likely to be seen by others.

What’s been your reaction to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests?

From a personal perspective, we need to be talking about it more not less. That’s the challenge and we need to be brave enough to use the words black and white.

From a YJB perspective, it’s about the over representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) young people in the youth justice system and particularly the secure estate – 51 per cent are from BAME background.

Over representation and lack of diversity in the criminal justice sector has always been a challenge and not always been a priority. I hope the talking that’s happening will ensure under and over representation is a priority. The report by David Lammy MP two years ago highlighted that over representation of children in the justice system was his biggest concern. More needs to be done. Part of our role is to ask difficult questions of government and I’ve raised it with the minister as a priority. I’m the lead on it – that’s how important I see it.

How bad is disproportionality in the youth justice system?

People think that BAME children commit the largest majority of serious offences. That is not a fact – 61 per cent of the highest gravity offences are committed by white children. But the question I ask is whether that proportion is commensurate with the secure estate?

We’ve been working with YOTs to help them recognise what disproportionality looks like. We’ve also developed the journey of the child, which looks at children when they come into the system and their journey out, and mapping key points along the way. It’s a really helpful tool to drive action and to ask those difficult questions.

The YJB has been focusing on disproportionality for years but the proportion of BAME young people in custody has gone up. Has it failed to tackle the issue and what more is being done?

None of us can claim success here. The success, and this is not being congratulatory, has been to raise awareness; to get all statutory organisations to look at over representation of BAME young people.

It’s a difficult issue, but we can help to change policy. We’ve got funding to look at the power of sport to prevent BAME young people coming into the system and we also have high-level round tables later in the year around employment. Resettlement of white children is more successful; we need to understand why that is. We need to get people together to look at that on a national level and what needs to be done. We’re also working with police and crime commissioners to help them draw up their policing and crime plans.

Were you disappointed that Charlie Taylor didn’t recommend a total ban on the use of pain inducing restraint in the youth secure estate in his findings?

Behaviour management and routinely using pain-inducing techniques don’t sit together. What I recognise is that in extreme times, they may need to use techniques like that to protect others. I expect it to be used rarely – it must be totally justified and really well managed.

Do you believe secure schools are the solution to reducing reoffending? Have you been reassured by what you’ve heard from Oasis so far about their plans for the first one?

I support the approach set out in Charlie Taylor’s [2015] review of youth custody – you can see the evidence behind the rationale and there are some elements of that in the first secure school. Speaking to the Ministry of Justice, there’s a drive and commitment to make it happen. I hope it will happen next year, but it’s taken too long. It needs to be delivered as soon as possible so we can test if it works as it looks a great idea.

CV

• April – 2020: Appointed chair of the YJB
• January 2018: Appointed as a YJB board member
• 1985 – 2017: Police officer rising to superintendent at West Midlands Police
• Other roles: Chair of Employability UK, a trustee of Sport Birmingham, an ambassador for Clean Sheet UK and independent board member of the Ministry of Justice’s race and ethnicity board