Youth justice vision and strategy: consultation - summary report

Youth Justice Vision: Young People's Views (Summary Report)

Introduction

The Scottish Government is working on an up-to-date plan for youth justice in Scotland. This has involved speaking to adults who work in youth justice or with an interest in this area to see what they think the Government and others should do to make things better for young people, and this has been written up into a report. The Scottish Government also asked children and young people with experience of care and justice to share what they think about the system. What children and young people have told us is shared in this short report by the Children and Young People's Centre for Justice (CYCJ). What children and young people and also adults have said will be used by the Scottish Government to agree new priorities for youth justice in Scotland over the next few years.

How did children and young people share their views?

The Youth Justice Visionaries, a group of four young people with lived experience of the justice system, helped the Scottish Government to hear what young people think about justice. A conversation topic guide with questions for workers was created to use with children and young people, so that the Government could hear their views but also so that children would be able to understand what was being asked of them.

The topic guide was used in lots of different ways. For example, the Youth Justice Visionaries created and held three online workshops with 18 young people in secure care. Workers from support organisations also held conversations with groups of young people they were working with. This included children in custody at HMP&YOI Polmont, and children and young people who were supported in the community by different organisations.

Around 80 children and young people shared their views. The adults supporting them wrote a summary of the conversations that were had and shared this with CYCJ, who pulled together all of the information and looked for important messages that children and young people were telling us.

What did young people say?

1) How can the government improve the justice system for children and

young people? What should they focus on?

• The Scottish Government should do more to support children and young people's mental health
  • It would help to educate all children and young people about mental health so that people are comfortable talking about mental health and can begin to identify problems. This also might help to stop other people judging those who have poor mental health.
  • Mental health services can be difficult to access and people often have to wait a long time to get support
  • It can be difficult when children turn 18 and can't access a service any longer, or find that the services that they have to move to are not very suitable for young adults

• The government should help teach children about rights and make sure children's rights are supported
  • Children should be taught about rights so they know and understand the rights that they have
  • The government should also make sure children get the rights that they are entitled to

• The government should make sure that the justice system is child friendly
  • Children find it difficult to understand what happens in the justice system, including at court
  • Children find it difficult to take part in justice
  • When children don't understand justice it often feels very unfair to them
  • This is true for all children, but especially children who have additional needs such as speech, language or communication needs
  • Children should be taught what justice and the justice system is

• The system needs to be built around relationships and respect
  • More could be done to build good relationships with the Police
  • Children feel that the Police do not respect them and don't understand when children have different needs or circumstances (such as being care experienced)
  • Children do not feel that the Police are best placed to respond to certain issues like mental health

• The system should be extended
  • 16 and 17 year olds should remain in the Children's Hearings System
  • The youth justice system should be for young adults too (up to 21 or 25)

2) How do we prevent offending in the first place?

• There should be more activities for children and young people, children should have something to do to keep them busy
  • Youth centres in communities
  • Free to use activities (sports, gyms etc)
  • Community resources such as play parks and green spaces
  • Summer programmes

• There should be more opportunities for children and young people to help them get on in life and tackle issues such as poverty
  • Better education/training opportunities
  • Better employment opportunities
  • Better housing for young people

• Education should be more inclusive
  • Do not expel pupils
  • Teachers need to be positive and understanding of different needs and circumstances
  • Provide alternatives to school for children who want to leave

• Listen to young people
  • Young people need to be heard
  • Talk to young people and do more research to understand why people offend
  • Provide supports when young people need talk

• Adults should build relationships with children and young people
  • Provide positive role models
  • Treat young people with respect and decency
  • Build trust between police and young people (stop and search does not help)
  • Provide supports when needed (especially mental health and addiction support)

3) How should we help and support children and young people who get into trouble with the law?

• Provide children with opportunities that will help them get on in life
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Housing
  • Things to do

• Help children understand and take part in the justice system
  • Help teach children about what happens when you get in trouble with the law
  • Make the justice system child friendly for those in it - it can feel overwhelming and difficult for children to comply if they don't understand it

• Provide children with the supports they need
  • Mental health support
  • Addictions support
  • Early intervention and youth work services
  • Increase access to services and reduce waiting lists
  • Understand why children are offending

• Build relationships with children and treat them with respect
  • Less police contact, less stop and search
  • Treat children with dignity if they do come into contact with the police
  • Professionals need to genuinely care about children
  • There needs to be more consistency of workers and panel members - they change too often

4) Should sentenced under 18s go to a Youth Offenders Institute (YOI) or secure care? What other options should be available?

• As a rule children under 18 should not go to a YOI
  • Custody should be a last resort
  • Some children may need to be in a YOI
  • A YOI is not suitable for people with mental health difficulties
  • Short-term sentences should be stopped
  • Need alternatives to adult prison for young adults (aged 22, 23 etc)

• Secure care is better than YOI but community alternatives are needed
  • Children who are offending should not be kept with children who are in secure on welfare grounds
  • It is not fair that children are locked up and cannot go to the toilet or get food when they want, especially if they are in on welfare grounds

• Children need support in YOI/secure care
  • Support to get training or employment
  • Support to transition from prison
  • Housing support
  • There is hardly any throughcare support

• Community alternatives are important
  • Curfew
  • Tag
  • Support services

5) How do we get better experiences and outcomes for children, young people and victims?

• There needs to be more support for victims
  • It is unfair to lock up children who have been victims
  • Group support for victims
  • Peer mentoring
  • Help people who have been victims make safety plans

• There needs to be more information for victims
  • Help them understand the justice process
  • Help them understand the decisions and what the outcome has been for the perpetrator
  • Give victims closure

• Restorative Justice might help some victims
  • Restorative justice might help victims understand and move on
  • Some children felt that restorative justice would only work when offences were not serious and did not have a personal element

6) How do we get young people out of the justice system and on to living a better lifestyle?

• Give children and young people education and employment opportunities
  • Help get young people into college
  • Give young people apprenticeships and teach them a trade
  • Give targeted support for children and young people with convictions
  • Give young people who have made mistakes a chance

• Help young people to 'escape' the system
  • Give young people a clean slate
  • Long term monitoring can feel like an extended punishment even though the person has 'done their time' and makes it difficult to move on
  • Help people move beyond their criminal records
  • Help to stop the stigma and discrimination that people with convictions face

• Give children and young people housing and leisure opportunities
  • Housing support for children leaving secure care or YOI
  • Children should not have to declare themselves homeless to get support
  • Children need access to gyms, sports and leisure (including driving lessons)

• Provide children with the supports they need
  • Mental health
  • Addictions
  • Teach children and young people life skills
  • Support young people beyond age 18 (up to 25)