PRT comment: Children in custody HMIP report
Commenting on HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on Children in Custody, published today, Peter Dawson, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“David Lammy’s 2017 report set out in forensic detail why people from ethnic minorities, including children, are over-represented in the prison population. It starts early, with decisions about exclusion from full time education, and builds through decisions about misbehaviour in care, stop and search, and whether to arrest, through choices about whether to prosecute or divert from the criminal justice system, about advocacy, plea and, eventually, sentencing. Black children have not benefited from the success youth offending teams have had in reducing the use of custody overall, and that is why we now have the shocking situation where over half of the boys in young offender institutions come from an ethnic minority. This is as urgent a case for Lammy’s ‘explain or reform’ rule as any in the criminal justice system.
“The government promised a comprehensive and effective response to the Lammy Report. These numbers show that it is still a long way from delivering it.”
Commenting on HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on Children in Custody, published today, Peter Dawson, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“David Lammy’s 2017 report set out in forensic detail why people from ethnic minorities, including children, are over-represented in the prison population. It starts early, with decisions about exclusion from full time education, and builds through decisions about misbehaviour in care, stop and search, and whether to arrest, through choices about whether to prosecute or divert from the criminal justice system, about advocacy, plea and, eventually, sentencing. Black children have not benefited from the success youth offending teams have had in reducing the use of custody overall, and that is why we now have the shocking situation where over half of the boys in young offender institutions come from an ethnic minority. This is as urgent a case for Lammy’s ‘explain or reform’ rule as any in the criminal justice system.
“The government promised a comprehensive and effective response to the Lammy Report. These numbers show that it is still a long way from delivering it.”
