Editorial: Rod Morgan's stand should be applauded

Rod Morgan's resignation as chair of the Youth Justice Board (YJB) has for some weeks carried an air of inevitability about it. Throughout his tenure, Morgan has been a powerful advocate of early intervention and prevention. But his arguments have been delivered with increasing frustration, set against this Home Secretary's tendency to talk ever more tough and deflect attention away from public outcries over missing criminal records.

John Reid's decision to advertise the YJB post rather than extend the incumbent's appointment for a second three-year term gave Morgan no choice.

But the timing of Morgan's announcement, last Friday amid the prisons crisis furore, was exemplary. It served to give his arguments even more credence.

The facts speak for themselves. According to the most recent British Crime Survey, youth crime is falling but the number of young people being locked up is rising. The YJB has a target - agreed with the Home Office - to reduce the number of young people in custody by 10 per cent by 2008.

Yet 26 per cent more young people have entered the criminal justice system in the past three years, an increase that Morgan told the BBC's Newsnight programme, he regards as "swamping". A custodial establishment, he said, "is the worst conceivable environment within which to improve somebody's behaviour".

Morgan has made regular visits to young offender institutions, youth projects and youth offending teams and has earned the respect and affection of the sector. Explaining his decision to stand down in an open letter to youth justice colleagues last week, he delivered a wry swipe towards Reid, describing the YJB as "one part of the criminal justice system that is 'fit for purpose'".

Indeed, this government has ushered in a number of progressive measures such as youth inclusion support panels and the sparsely used individual support order. And yet, custody has increasingly become the first resort.

We can expect Morgan outside the YJB to continue to be a passionate advocate of being "tough on the causes of crime". Let us hope his successor possesses similar eloquence and moral strength to stand up to a Home Secretary whose instincts have become dangerously short-termist and authoritarian.

- ravi.chandiramani@haymarket.com.