criminal justice

What barristers can do to help decriminalise care

Half of the children detained in Youth Offending Institutes are, or have been, in the care system. That’s despite the fact that children in care make up less than one percent of the child population. Research conducted by the Howard League for Penal Reform has found that unnecessary police call-outs and mental health difficulties are two of the main factors behind this statistic.

Prevention is better than the cure, and our Policy Forum’s criminalisation subgroup has mainly focused on how we can avoid children in care coming into contact with the criminal justice system in the first place. The group has worked extensively with the Metropolitan Police and the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime on ways to achieve this. Forcing carers, social workers and other agents to ask themselves the question ‘Would this be good enough for my child’, our young people helped to write a protocol, released in March this year, aimed at keeping police call-outs as a last resort.

Transitioning into adulthood shouldn’t be a lonely walk

Turning 18 and slowly beginning to understand the complexities of adulthood is something most of us will be able to relate to. Thinking back, some of us will remember how important the support of parents, siblings or long-term friends has been during this crucial period in our lives. Children going into out-of-home care, however, typically …

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Think before you judge – on the unnecessary criminalisation of looked-after children

In National Care Leavers’ Week, we want to shed light onto specific issues which disproportionately affect care-experienced people; from the unnecessary criminalisation of looked-after children, to youth mental health, to stigma and discrimination, and to a general lack of training and support for people working in the sector. We passionately believe that children and young …

Think before you judge – on the unnecessary criminalisation of looked-after children Read More »

A Multi-Faceted Problem requiring a multi-agency solution: decriminalising care

Addressing Criminalisation in London’s Care System from a Lived Experience Perspective at City Hall It is the morning of the first day of February 2019. It may be torrentially raining but members of the Drive Forward Policy Forum are leaving city hall feeling happy and excited. Some of them have just met with Sophie Linden …

A Multi-Faceted Problem requiring a multi-agency solution: decriminalising care Read More »

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