A National Scandal
At the recent Annual Social Services Conference in Birmingham there was a spontaneous round of applause when a Conservative Councillor observed that successive Home Secretaries of both parties in power in recent years had all been tough on young criminals, but had failed to deal with the causes of their crimes. These Home Secretaries have been among the most influential politicians in their parties, they have been intelligent, they have been able to push through difficult legislation, but not one of them has had the bottle to stand up for young offenders. They have taken the populist line, chiming in with nimbyism and people’s fear of wild youths.
We now have over 2,600 young people under the age of 18 in prison establishments who are, in the eyes of the law, still children. There are more than 8,200 18-20 year-olds.
The conditions in some of the units which house them are unsatisfactory. There has been bullying. Some commit suicide. On discharge they receive minimal support, they have difficulty getting jobs and there is a dearth of accommodation for them. No wonder that a high proportion drift back into crime.
Providing them with services is not an easy task. They can be unmotivated, antisocial, violent, keener to take the easy option of offending than invest in education and training with long-term career pay-offs.
But it is well worth investing in them. If they can become literate and obtain qualifications, they are more likely to get jobs. If they get jobs they are less likely to offend, whether to obtain money or through being at a loose end. If they are in jobs, they put money into the economy, instead of costing £37,305 a year in prison. To look after offenders properly is right morally, but it also makes good economic sense.
In 1844 there were 11,348 children and young people aged between 10 and 20 in prison. In 1854 reformatories were set up under the Youthful Offenders Act, so that children and young people would no longer have to go to prison. The reformatories evolved into the approved school system, and in the late 1960s there were about 8,000 children – mainly boys – receiving education and trade training in these schools. Some approved schools were open to criticism and the system was undermined by the Children Act 1969. Over subsequent decades the community homes with education (CHEs) which succeeded approved schools were mostly closed.
In short, over the last 30 years the system designed 150 years ago to replace prison for children and young people has been dismantled.
Some may say that was a good thing, but the solution has been to return to the pre-Victorian use of prison, which is much worse. It is time the country had a far-sighted humane Home Secretary who has the bottle to grasp this nettle.
A lot of good things are going on in this field. Youth crime is significantly down. How about trumpeting that? The Youth Justice Board is well led and there is improving collaboration at local level through the Youth Offending Teams.
But the use of prison for young people remains a blot. There are now approximately the same numbers of children and young people in prison as there were in 1844, when it was deemed such a scandal that a new system was set up to ensure that children no longer had to go to prison. The wheel has come full circle. If we are to consider ourselves civilised we need to get children out of prison.
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