tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/young-offenders-3642/articlesYoung offenders – The Conversation2020-08-05T10:59:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1427792020-08-05T10:59:21Z2020-08-05T10:59:21ZKnife crime: why young people need to get a say in their rehabilitation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351297/original/file-20200805-16-1ti4col.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C0%2C5750%2C3821&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Knife crime is at record levels across the UK.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-teenage-boy-urban-gang-holding-1433575952">SpeedKingz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Knife crime hit a record high in England and Wales before the COVID-19 lockdown came into place – with police reporting <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2020">46,265 cases</a> for the year to March. The recent report by the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2020">Office for National Statistics</a> (ONS) said this was 51% higher compared to when the data was first collected in 2011. </p>
<p>During <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/13/falls-in-gun-and-knife-a-silver-lining-to-pandemic-says-met-chief">lockdown</a>, knife and gun crime dropped considerably, but these figures have now begun to increase with restrictions easing. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2019-03-08/call-for-harsh-punishments-for-carrying-knives-as-stabbings-toll-rises/">Tougher sentences</a> are often touted as the answer to <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/ann-widdecombe/940876/london-stabbing-need-determined-policing-stop-and-search-ann-widdecombe">knife crime</a>. There also seems to be the belief that people who carry out such crimes have <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/crsw/2014/00000002/00000003/art00003">forfeited</a> their right to <a href="https://www.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/story/12283/">political and public empathy</a>.</p>
<p>The idea that young people should get a say in their punishment then, might also seem far fetched to some. But <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">every young person has a right</a> to be <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Youth-Justice-A-Critical-Introduction-1st-Edition/Case/p/book/9781138233256">meaningfully involved</a> in their own rehabilitation.
And giving them a say on how the process works and how it’s carried out <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13575279.2018.1521381">is crucial</a>. Not least because <a href="https://www.cycj.org.uk/resource/inclusive-justice-co-producing-change/">it can</a> help to <a href="https://schoolsweek.co.uk/young-peoples-views-are-a-vital-to-solving-the-knife-crime-crisis/">reduce the likelihood</a> they will carry or use a knife as a weapon. </p>
<h2>Current situation</h2>
<p>As it stands, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/youth-offending-team">youth offending teams</a> work with young people involved in, or on the cusp of, knife-related crime, often ordered by the courts. These teams do in-depth assessments to flag up what’s triggering young people’s involvement in knife crime. And they’ll also look at issues like the impact of <a href="https://www.cypnow.co.uk/features/article/childhood-trauma-and-offending">childhood trauma on thinking</a> and behaviour. </p>
<p>These teams aim to work in a collaborative way with young people to help them change their behaviour. In theory, this would see young people taking on responsibility for their learning and making decisions on what topics to cover, or acting as spokesperson for the group in feedback forums with their youth offending teams. But in reality, many young people don’t really engage or involve themselves with the process of rehabilitation. They just see is as “something to get through” – as <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SC-01-2020-0002/full/html">recent research</a> shows.</p>
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<img alt="A sculpture made of 100,000 confiscated knives." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349695/original/file-20200727-29-1qc50pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349695/original/file-20200727-29-1qc50pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349695/original/file-20200727-29-1qc50pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349695/original/file-20200727-29-1qc50pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349695/original/file-20200727-29-1qc50pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349695/original/file-20200727-29-1qc50pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349695/original/file-20200727-29-1qc50pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘The Knife Angel’ sculpture on display at Coventry Cathedral, made up of the UK police forces confiscated knives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/coventry-west-midlandsuk-march-15-2019-1351054259">NSingh Photography/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SC-01-2020-0002/full/html">The study</a>, which involved 15 months of fieldwork between 2016-2017 with a youth offending team in England, looked at the extent of young people’s participation in the rehabilitation process. </p>
<p>It found that some of the young people simply aimed to attend meetings, putting as little as possible into the process. They were seemingly compliant and responsive to demands with little resistance but were actually just going through the motions.</p>
<h2>‘Game playing’</h2>
<p>One support worker described how some young people seemed insincere – giving a false impression they were content with their <a href="http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/disguised-compliance-or-undisguised-nonsense(bf4b15d6-9fc4-4594-bf80-9e9e672ea918).html.">specified objectives</a> set by the youth offending team – requiring them to complete worksheets or anger management courses.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SC-01-2020-0002/full/html">Another support worker</a> in the study, Mason, queried whether staff should be digging beneath the surface – especially with young people who appear quietly compliant. </p>
<p>He explained how he felt concerned the “game playing element” of the system discouraged young people from properly engaging in supervision meetings:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Do you see that strategising – is that what we count as good? Or are the ones who chafe against this…is that actually more meaningful? [Is] their participation, more meaningful?</p>
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<p>Jackson, one of the youth offending team managers, explained how a lot of young people just want to complete what’s required of them without any complications: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They see it as a punishment. They see us as part of the…well, and we are, the officers of the court. And a voice of authority. And they wanna get through it for six months, for nine months, for twelve months. They don’t think of participation in a way that, you know…that a practitioner might.</p>
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<p>Indeed, across the study, young people under youth justice supervision generally didn’t want to question those in authority because of fears this could lead to a delay in completing their court order. </p>
<p>The study also revealed that many young people felt decisions about their rehabilitation were largely outside their control – as Tommy explains: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t think it’s up to me to say that, is it? I don’t think…I get a say in what the [youth offending team], do I?.</p>
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<h2>A collaborative approach</h2>
<p>Ultimately, young people’s voices must not be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13575279.2018.1521381">ignored</a> in this process – they have a right to a say about their rehabilitation. But young people need more reassurances to know they are entitled to express their views and that their perspectives will be taken seriously – and not used against them. </p>
<p>Many of the staff in the youth offending team recognised that empathy and trust plays a pivotal role in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342667158_Social_work_and_youth_justice">bolstering young people’s participation</a>. And <a href="http://www.promise.manchester.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Cluster-1-analysis-Final-individual-report.pdf">research</a> showing the transformative power of mutually respectful relationships backs this up.</p>
<p>To stop young people feeling <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/positive-youth-justice">disaffected</a> then, they need to be consistently more involved in the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Youth-Justice-A-Critical-Introduction-1st-Edition/Case/p/book/9781138233256">decision making process</a> surrounding their rehabilitation. </p>
<p>This will not only help to pave the way for greater levels of engagement, but it will also help to maximise young people’s potential for success – and hopefully reduce the likelihood of them picking up a weapon in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Creaney is a member of the Advisory Board at social justice charity Peer Power Youth and a voluntary Board Director at Voice for Children. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Deakin is a member of the Research Advisory Group at The Howard League for Penal Reform</span></em></p>Young people’s voices need to be heard if we are to solve the knife crime crisis.Sean Creaney, Senior Lecturer in Psychosocial Analysis of Offending Behaviour, Edge Hill UniversityJo Deakin, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1132332019-03-21T10:15:14Z2019-03-21T10:15:14ZKnife crime: why harsh prison sentences aren’t the answer for young people who carry knives<p>When new figures were released in March about knife crime in England and Wales, they showed offences involving knives were at a <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/785745/Knife_and_Offensive_Weapon_Sentencing_Pub_Q4_2018.pdf">nine-year high</a>. While this was sadly unsurprising, the data also revealed that those convicted are more likely to receive a custodial sentence. The average length of custodial sentences has also increased from five to eight months, suggesting those who maintain that the issue can be <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/ann-widdecombe/940876/london-stabbing-need-determined-policing-stop-and-search-ann-widdecombe">solved by tougher sentences and more prisons</a> need a more nuanced understanding of the issues facing young people.</p>
<p>My ongoing research with more than 100 young offenders in London, including gang and former gang members, suggests that young people in certain areas of London start carrying knives at a young age because they are aware of the risks they face in their neighbourhoods. Most of the young men I’ve spoken to grew up in areas with high levels of deprivation with disproportionately high levels of violent crime compared to other areas of London. One young man started carrying a knife at the age of 12, as he was afraid to walk across his estate to and from school. Other young people starting carrying weapons when they witnessed older friends or siblings being attacked in their streets.</p>
<p>My research is making clear that homelessness is also a major issue for young people who become involved in offending. In some cases, children were asked to leave home by parents who didn’t know how else to stop them getting involved with drug dealing, or were worried about keeping younger siblings safe. Tragically, for some of these children, the violence they experienced at home makes living on the streets a better option that staying. </p>
<p>But being on the streets, no matter the reason, makes children vulnerable to violence and susceptible to becoming involved in gang activity. When children as young as 11 are homeless (as was the case for several of the young men I interviewed) and local authorities know what’s happening but fail to help and protect them, this becomes a big part of the problem. </p>
<p>Local authorities frequently abdicate their responsibility, <a href="https://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/housing_options/young_people_and_care_leavers">particularly in relation to housing and young people</a> – and fail to help these children because they are seen as “dangerous” or “criminal”, rather than vulnerable or in need of help. This only increases the likelihood that they will continue to engage in offending activities – often so that they can afford a place to sleep and food to eat. </p>
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<h2>Youth services decimated</h2>
<p>Austerity has had a severe impact on services designed to support vulnerable young people. In 2018, the charity <a href="https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/news-and-blogs/press-releases/2018/september/budgets-for-children-s-early-help-services-suffer-743-million-funding-drop-in-five-years-figures-show/">Action for Children</a> noted that budgets for children’s services, particularly for children at risk of abuse and neglect, dropped by 26% between 2015 and 2018. Budgets for children’s centres across England have also decreased by 42%. At the same time, funding for both safeguarding services and for children in care increased by 10% during the same period, suggesting that money is being used to “firefight” crisis situations rather than prevent putting vulnerable children at risk.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/apr/05/school-deprivation-funding-changes-education-budget">Funding problems</a> for schools in the poorest areas in England are also making the situation worse. Many of the schools in deprived neighbourhoods don’t have the resources available to help <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/assembly/the-link-between-school-exclusions-violent-crime">children with complex needs</a>, and excluding young people from school leaves them vulnerable to being drawn into criminal activity. </p>
<p>Analysis from the <a href="https://www.ymca.org.uk/latest-news/rise-in-knife-crime-shines-spotlight-on-youth-services-cuts">YMCA England and Wales</a> on cuts to youth services shows how local authorities are struggling to manage the reduction in funding from central government. The charity reports that spending across England and Wales has fallen by 61% between 2012 and 2018 and in London, the heart of the knife crime epidemic, spending on youth services has been slashed by 59% since 2010-11. </p>
<p>While many of the young people in my research carried knives, few of them carried weapons with the express intention of using them. They were carried for self-defence, and as the violence has grown worse, bigger knives are being used. My interviews with young people suggest that firearms and guns are increasingly easy to access, and the situation is likely to get worse if something isn’t done to address this issue.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/knife-crime-important-new-findings-could-help-us-understand-why-people-carry-weapons-101755">Knife crime: important new findings could help us understand why people carry weapons</a>
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<h2>Helping vulnerable young people</h2>
<p>While punitive approaches may seem like an easy solution, these “violent offenders” I spoke to were also incredibly vulnerable. Many had been stabbed or assaulted themselves, most had lost someone close to them to violence, and few had the ability to process the grief and trauma that comes with witnessing violence and death. </p>
<p>Almost all had been in prison at least once, but many felt they came out worse and more likely to offend than before they went in. Prison is not the answer for these young people. Anyone who thinks incarcerating a 14-year-old is a solution has probably never visited a young offenders institution. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, tackling knife crime and serious youth violence is complicated – and will require a great deal of time and resources to undo the years of damage that have already been done. More funding is needed for early years education, mental health provision, child social care and youth services – particularly for children now at risk of repeating the same mistakes. </p>
<p>In his spring statement in mid-March, the chancellor, Phillip Hammond, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47558117">announced £100m</a> would be given to police to try to tackle these issues. While this may help address the immediate violence on the streets, if more is not done to get at the root causes – poverty and the impacts of austerity on young people – knife crime and other violent crime will continue to grow. We know what the risk factors are, and we know how to start start tackling these issues. Holistic, community-oriented policing is important, but it is simply not enough.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/knife-crime-causes-and-solutions-editors-guide-to-what-our-academic-experts-say-113318">Knife crime: causes and solutions – editors' guide to what our academic experts say</a>
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<p>The “violent criminals” portrayed on the front page of tabloid newspapers were once vulnerable children that the system failed. They also need help and support. Austerity will continue to rip communities apart and destroy lives if radical changes aren’t made to a broken system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Sanders-McDonagh carried out an evaluation for the New Horizon Youth Centre, funded by the Big Lottery.</span></em></p>Vulnerable young people have been failed by austerity policies that have decimated the services meant to protect them.Erin Sanders-McDonagh, Lecturer in Criminology, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1058802018-11-13T13:24:36Z2018-11-13T13:24:36ZKnife crime: how former offenders can make great mentors for at-risk teens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245321/original/file-20181113-194513-1t26pye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C65%2C5439%2C3555&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-teenager-358114529?src=N1Z6PicZjLd2DMuhQ0-z7w-1-63">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s widely reported that there’s been an increase in street violence, particularly in London - with the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/londons-year-of-horror-so-far-the-victims-in-the-first-weeks-of-2018-11315362">number of knife and gun crimes</a> rising. While the causes are complex and multifaceted, victims and perpetrators of serious youth violence often <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/09/maternal-absence-cited-as-major-factor-in-rise-of-youth-violence">lack a relationship with a trusted adult</a>. </p>
<p>One way to help reduce crime is to use ex-offenders as peer mentors. Those who have overcome adversity and stopped offending can act as positive role models for their peers – especially teenagers who are at risk of committing crime or being drawn into gang activity. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13575279.2018.1521381">research found that</a> young people on court orders really value building empathetic and collaborative relationships with professionals who are ex-offenders, and have first-hand experience with the criminal justice system. </p>
<p>When carefully selected, provided with extensive training and given tailored support, former young offenders <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13575279.2018.1521381">can be uniquely well-equipped</a> to help their peers in need of support. And they can encourage young people on court orders to engage with criminal justice services and make positive changes in their lives.</p>
<h2>Positive peers</h2>
<p>Peer mentors can offer advice and support to young people who are experiencing personal, social or emotional difficulties, because they have first-hand experience overcoming such problems themselves. Projects operating around the world offer proof that this can work in practice. </p>
<p>One approach in the US is to recruit ex-offenders as <a href="https://cmjcenter.org/approach">credible messengers</a> who can build trust and inspire change among young people. These mentors, who have transformed their lives, are viewed as assets who can help motivate young people – who are often marginalised and disadvantaged – to make better decisions and desist from crime. The project has been shown to <a href="http://cmjcenter.org/documents/DE_BLASIO_ADMINISTRATION_ANNOUNCES_CITY_MENTORING_PROGRAM_FOR_YOUTH_ON_PROBATION_REDUCES_REOFFENDING.pdf">reduce re-offending and improve young people’s self-esteem</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, the <a href="https://www.stgilestrust.org.uk/">St Giles Trust</a>, based in London, works with young people exposed to or at risk of violence. Their SOS project carefully recruits ex-offenders to engage young people. </p>
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<p>The effectiveness of this approach was borne out in my research: in 2016 and 2017, I spoke with 20 young people and 20 professionals from a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/youth-offending-team">youth offending service</a> in England, which works with young people who get into trouble with the law. One young person in my study said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…unless you’ve experienced that, you cannot tell them…you cannot relate to them. Unless it’s happened to you, or someone that you know, there’s no way you can fully understand how they’re feeling.</p>
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<p>Teenagers who are at risk of committing crime or being drawn into gang activity may be reluctant to talk to authority figures. But if the person they’re speaking to is an ex-offender themselves, they may be more forthcoming. For example, another of my participants, Anthony (aged 17), spoke passionately about a trusting relationship he had built with one of his workers, who had experience in the care and criminal justice systems. </p>
<p>Anthony said his worker was non judgemental and able to empathise and offer guidance when he was in a difficult situation. He described how he has contacted his worker on many occasions in a state of panic and valued receiving emotional and practical assistance. Anthony described his worker as inspirational, and was keen to follow in his footsteps in the future, by securing a job which involves caring for others. </p>
<p>Another of my participants – Zain, aged 17 – was also inspired by his mentor:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’d love to do his job. He sort of inspired me. Cos I know about his past, he knows about mine. And it’s pretty similar, do you know what I mean? Grew up on a bad estate, got into drugs.</p>
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<h2>The right choice</h2>
<p>Yet within the justice system <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0264550514547666?journalCode=prbb">there is still some scepticm</a> about whether ex-offenders can steer their peers away from crime. </p>
<p>There are challenges: young people may lack the ability to offer emotional and practical assistance to their peers who are experiencing mental health problems. For this reason, it’s crucial to provide ex-offenders with appropriate training and ongoing support. </p>
<p>What’s more, they may have their own unresolved traumas, which could make it more difficult for them to form constructive relationships with both their peers and professionals. And this is why it’s important for authorities to screen and select the right people. </p>
<p>Yet peer mentoring can be an antidote to the <a href="https://chesterrep.openrepository.com/handle/10034/620483">disconnected, unhearing and technocratic</a> criminal justice process. And the young people who engage in mentoring <a href="https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/159713772/Desistance_as_a_Social_Movement.pdf">can discover</a> that they have talents and abilities they didn’t know they had. </p>
<p>Because they’re seen as role models, rather than authority figures, young people who are ex-offenders can forge positive and meaningful connections with their peers, to the benefit of both parties. Above all, mentoring gives young people who have overcome their own hardships a chance to help others do the same.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Creaney is affiliated with social justice charity Peer Power and Voice for Children. </span></em></p>Former young offenders can be uniquely well-equipped to support teenagers at risk of getting caught up in crime.Sean Creaney, Lecturer in Psychosocial Analysis of Offending Behaviour, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/961722018-05-23T22:53:40Z2018-05-23T22:53:40ZJudges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219860/original/file-20180521-14987-eb19q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Preliminary research into the Chess for Life Program in Alberta, Canada, shows that youth who are sentenced to chess instruction after committing non-violent crimes are learning useful life skills. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since January 2018, every Friday afternoon, one campus classroom in Canada is transformed. Tables are set up with two chairs facing one another; a chess set invites players to begin. An interactive white board shows a game in progress. Off to the side, another board is set up with a “chess problem.” </p>
<p>At half past one, the players begin to show up. The room fills with noisy young voices, sharing how their week has gone and clamouring for cookies and juice. </p>
<p>The scene is like any youth gathering, with one difference: Group home workers and probation officers are in attendance. </p>
<p>All of these youth are involved in the criminal justice system and are attending what’s known as the Chess for Life Program at Alberta’s University of Lethbridge as part of their sentence. </p>
<p>Sentencing practices for youth who engage in non-violent crimes have traditionally adopted a punitive approach — for example, ordering time in a juvenile detention centre. However, research suggests that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.01.005">punitive models have little impact on reducing the chances of reoffending</a>. </p>
<p>In fact, <a href="http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/248513.pdf">punitive sentencing can result in poor social outcomes, low rates of employment and higher school dropout rates</a>. </p>
<h2>Chess for Life</h2>
<p>Some people suggest a more rehabilitative approach to sentencing is needed. For example, youth could be sentenced to programs that provide opportunities for developing life skills and establishing more positive relationships. This may result in increased levels of self-confidence, <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/framwork.pdf">reducing the chance of reoffending</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/yj-jj/tools-outils/back-hist.html">Alternate sentencing initiatives</a> focus on fair sentencing practices that are appropriate and support the reintegration of youth back into the community.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A research team at the University of Lethbridge is exploring how chess as an alternate sentence impacts how youth view themselves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Within the Young Offenders Branch of the Alberta government and the province’s Assistant Deputy Minister’s office, there is a movement towards alternate sentencing for youth involved in non-violent crimes. As a result, Alberta’s Ministry of Justice and the faculties of education and health sciences at the University of Lethbridge have teamed up to deliver a unique program as an alternate sentence: Chess for Life. </p>
<p>Chess for Life is a 25-hour chess instruction program lead by longtime chess players Dr. Lance Grigg and assistants Riley Kostek and Josh Markle. Youth learn opening, middle and end-game strategies while playing the program leaders and each other. </p>
<p>While the youth may not know it, they also are developing skills in reasoning, problem-solving, paying attention, planning, focusing and decision-making. </p>
<h2>‘Every move has a consequence’</h2>
<p>Although all of this sounds great, there is little research into the influence learning to play chess may have on self-regulatory functions and on the life choices youth make. </p>
<p>To address this gap, our research team, led by Monique Sedgwick and Jeffrey MacCormack, is conducting a study that explores how youth caught up in the criminal justice system, and participating in the Chess for Life Program, view themselves as they learn how to play chess. </p>
<p>So far, we have observed that the youth, for the most part, like to come to instructional sessions. They say they really like how quiet the room is and that for the couple of hours they’re in the classroom, things slow down and it’s just chess. </p>
<p>They can leave the distractions, challenges, hurt and pain of their day at the door. </p>
<p>We’ve also noticed the youth have become more thoughtful. They ask good questions about moments in the game — questions that demonstrate they are developing problem-solving and planning skills. </p>
<p>They now know why the four middle squares of the board are important; we all need a strong centre. Before they move a player, we hear them plan their moves by working through the consequences of moving a piece in a particular way. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most revealing comment one youth has shared — reflecting the positive influence of the program — is that he wishes he had “learned to play chess a lot earlier.” </p>
<p>In life, like chess, every move has a consequence.</p>
<p>Although the study is in preliminary stages of collecting data, initial observations suggest the Chess for Life program is a good alternate sentence choice for helping these young people get their lives back on track.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In Alberta, an alternative initiative sees youth who commit non-violent crimes sentenced to 25 hours of chess instruction with a University of Lethbridge professor.Monique Sedgwick, Associate Professor of Nursing, University of LethbridgeJeffrey MacCormack, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, University of LethbridgeLance Grigg, Associate Professor of Education, University of LethbridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/915632018-02-19T21:33:19Z2018-02-19T21:33:19ZWhy police in schools won’t reduce youth crime in Victoria<p>The Police Schools Involvement Program was abolished in Victoria in 2006. It is the only state without a police in schools program. In the 12 years since, the youth crime rate in Victoria has remained the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4519.0%7E2016-17%7EMain%20Features%7EYouth%20Offenders%7E4">lowest of all states</a> in Australia (apart from the ACT) and the number of children involved in offending has dropped. </p>
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<p>The phenomenon of shrinking youth crime is <a href="https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/embridge_cache/emshare/original/public/2016/05/b7/c7dfd6ae9/201603010_final_in_fact1.pdf">not unique to Victoria</a>. This trend is mirrored in the US, UK and even <a href="http://asaa.asn.au/japans-youth-crime-wave-subsides-to-a-ripple/">Japan</a>. </p>
<p>Despite this, Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has proposed that 100 “new” police be <a href="https://www.facebook.com/7NewsMelbourne/videos/10156286415169301/">“put deliberately and directly into our schools”</a>. The aim is to prevent crime and build respect for the law and for police. </p>
<p>This policy represents an anachronistic, paternalistic approach to the “problem” of youth crime. It’s ill-informed and out of step with evidence about what works to prevent and reduce children’s involvement in offending.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/police-in-schools-helpful-or-harmful-it-depends-on-the-model-91836">Police in schools: helpful or harmful? It depends on the model</a>
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<h2>What do we know about youth crime?</h2>
<p>Most kids get into trouble once or twice and then stop. The majority of children who come into contact with the law do so only once, with <a href="https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/embridge_cache/emshare/original/public/2016/07/5f/06b914686/20160706_in_fact3.pdf">a small minority</a> recording up to three criminal incidents. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi409">theories about labelling and stigmatisation</a>, criminalising kids can increase the risk they will act criminally. For this reason, diverting young people away from criminal justice involvement is an effective way to reduce the likelihood of further youth crime.</p>
<p>A tiny proportion of children go on to frequent and/or persistent offending. This re-offending group has <a href="https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/embridge_cache/emshare/original/public/2016/07/5f/06b914686/20160706_in_fact3.pdf">grown slightly</a>. Again, Victoria is not alone here. </p>
<p>As the numbers of justice-involved children decline, the proportion of young people with complex needs associated with their offending increases. With this group, effective intervention requires intensive relationship-based work to identify and meet their frequently unmet needs. </p>
<p>These areas of need include learning difficulties, cognitive impairment, substance misuse and other issues arising from multiple and complex social disadvantages. These needs are often unmet due to children’s disengagement and <a href="https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/getattachment/57d918ec-fee0-48e0-a55e-87d0262d3c27//publications/parliamentary-reports/investigation-into-vic-gov-school-expulsions.aspx">exclusion from schools</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206729/original/file-20180216-131000-1hufdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206729/original/file-20180216-131000-1hufdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206729/original/file-20180216-131000-1hufdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206729/original/file-20180216-131000-1hufdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206729/original/file-20180216-131000-1hufdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206729/original/file-20180216-131000-1hufdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206729/original/file-20180216-131000-1hufdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Evidence from the US suggests increasing police presence in areas where school incidents are reported – bullying or drug use for instance – tends to increase the likelihood of criminalisation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p><a href="https://dote.org.au/">We know</a> the children most at risk of criminal justice involvement come from certain postcodes and these are sites of multiple layers of intergenerational disadvantage. This might be how Guy plans to identify ten “at risk” secondary schools to install the new school resource officers. It’s not clear yet. </p>
<p>What is also unclear is how this proposed scheme would add to the work already undertaken by Victoria Police through <a href="http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=29519">Youth Resource Officers (YROs) and Victoria Police Youth Corps (VPYC)</a>, for instance.</p>
<h2>Some groups are over-represented in youth justice involvement</h2>
<p>Evidence from the US suggests increasing police presence in areas where school incidents are reported – bullying or drug use for instance – tends to increase the likelihood of criminalisation. This can lead to the often-cited <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/school-to-prison-pipeline-4136170">school-to-prison pipeline</a> – where children’s overincarceration is a direct result of criminalisation in school settings. </p>
<p>This is a racialised phenomenon – black children are more likely to be suspended or expelled <a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-inequality-starts-early-in-preschool-61896">even in preschool</a> in the US. </p>
<p>Even more concerning is the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/02/11/ice-schools-immigrant-students-ms-13-long-island/">recently reported</a> school-to-immigration-detention pipeline. This has led to young people identified as having gang affiliations being deported under US federal laws that find echoes in our own federal politics.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-inequality-starts-early-in-preschool-61896">Racial inequality starts early – in preschool</a>
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<p>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, African background and Pacific Islander young people are over-represented. This applies not only in custodial populations, but in terms of who police are most likely to suspect or stereotype as “risky”. </p>
<p>Children in the care system, with cognitive disabilities and with co-occurring mental health and substance disorders are also over-represented groups in terms of their likelihood of being entangled in the justice system. It is difficult to understand how having police in schools might best prevent these most vulnerable of our children from being involved in the criminal justice system. Remember, schools are the first places they are <a href="http://parkvillecollege.vic.edu.au/?page_id=44">likely to disengage</a> from. </p>
<h2>So what does this picture tell us?</h2>
<p>Victorian <a href="https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/explore-crime-by-location">crime statistics</a> highlight local government areas where offending rates are highest. For example, 12 communities across metropolitan and regional Victoria have rates of more than 8,000 crimes for every 100,000 residents. </p>
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<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-240" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/240/fe469042f2c6cd07666c6d1c6f2a522a384b1968/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/explore-crime-by-location">Crime Statistics Agency</a></em></p>
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<p>Strikingly, yet unsurprisingly, these figures align with pockets of multiple disadvantage. These are identified as the <a href="https://dote.org.au/">highest-ranking postcodes</a> by factors including unemployment, low educational attainment, high levels of family violence and child maltreatment.</p>
<p>These complex layers of disadvantage require complex place-based responses, involving community-based services working in partnership over time. The <a href="http://www.thegeelongproject.com.au/">Geelong Project</a> is an example.</p>
<p>Police can and do play an important role in such partnerships, working with local services, schools and courts to reduce harm to and by young people. </p>
<p>But vote-grabbing attempts to revive outdated models won’t help.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diana Johns does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The police in schools model abolished in Victoria in 2006 represents an outdated, paternalistic approach to youth crime and would not likely reduce youth crime rates if we brought it back now.Diana Johns, Lecturer in Criminology, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/805142017-07-05T13:16:06Z2017-07-05T13:16:06ZFeltham ruling shows youth custody fails to meet needs of vulnerable children<p>By placing a 16-year-old child with mental health issues in isolation for a prolonged period of time, Feltham Young Offender Institution in London breached his human rights and contravened prison rules, the High Court has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/04/feltham-yoi-high-court-human-rights">ruled</a>.</p>
<p>The ruling came a few days after Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons said Feltham A – the part of the institution for boys aged 15 to 18 – was “not safe for either staff or boys” in a <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/06/Feltham-A-Web-2017.pdf">report</a> published after an unannounced inspection. Parts of the institution were described as “deeply troubling” with issues of violence, uses of restraint techniques and isolation deemed to be serious causes of concern. </p>
<p>Named AB in legal documentation, the child’s solitary confinement for <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/04/boy-16-wins-human-rights-ruling-prolonged-solitary-confinement/">more than 100 days</a> was <a href="https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/oa-ab-a-child-v-sosfj-and-others.pdf">ruled</a> on July 4 to have contravened Article 8 of the <a href="http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf">European Convention on Human Rights</a> – the right to a private and family life. He <a href="http://howardleague.org/news/felthamsolitaryconfinementhighcourtjudgment/">was</a> locked in his cell for in excess of 22 hours a day, for more than 15 days in a row. </p>
<p>The judge, Justice Ouseley, explained that this denied the child the opportunity to an adequate education and to socialise with other inmates. But he dismissed the argument that the boy’s treatment was inhuman and degrading. The Howard League for Penal Reform, a charity whose legal team represents the boy, is <a href="http://howardleague.org/news/felthamsolitaryconfinementhighcourtjudgment/">now seeking</a> to appeal this part of the ruling. </p>
<p>Despite the child’s challenging behaviour he deserves to have his rights respected and to access appropriate support for his mental health issues and special educational needs. However, the High Court ruling also failed to recognise his need for appropriate support. </p>
<p>Putting distressed children in cells for more than 100 days <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-prisons-child-inmates-solitary-confinement-un-torture-rules-young-offenders-institutes-break-jail-a7591781.html">only exacerbates</a> any pre-existing mental health problems, leaving them vulnerable to traumatic stress. The punishment is the <a href="http://scyj.org.uk/2017/07/scyj-responds-to-hmi-prisons-report-on-feltham-prison/">loss of liberty</a> and children should not be doubly punished by enduring ill treatment in poor conditions. </p>
<h2>Unmet needs</h2>
<p>The child <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/francescrook/status/882250250777493506/photo/1">had</a> complex health and social care needs and adverse childhood experiences. But these were disregarded, with security concerns trumping the need for appropriate care – as it often does in custodial settings. He had attachment difficulties following a traumatic childhood that involved being subject to emotional and physical abuse. He suffered from bereavement and had witnessed domestic violence. He was on the child protection register and had had a number of residential placements. The boy was also diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder. </p>
<p>There is a larger problem here: a disproportionate number of children in the youth justice system have experienced trauma. <a href="http://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/justice-system-retraumatising-vulnerable-young-people/">Research</a> has shown that 91% of young people who have committed violent offences had experienced abuse or loss. The prevalence of such trauma in custody can result in children becoming violent, committing sexual offences and misusing substances. Being in solitary confinement <a href="https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Unlocking-Potential.pdf">can also</a> trigger self-harm and intensify the symptoms of trauma. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176877/original/file-20170705-29998-kpmi2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176877/original/file-20170705-29998-kpmi2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176877/original/file-20170705-29998-kpmi2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176877/original/file-20170705-29998-kpmi2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176877/original/file-20170705-29998-kpmi2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176877/original/file-20170705-29998-kpmi2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176877/original/file-20170705-29998-kpmi2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many young people in detention have a history of childhood trauma.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<h2>Access to support</h2>
<p>Young offender institutions and prisons generally do not have the right provisions, expertise and resources in place to support people who need to be cared for: an issue that has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/05/prison-funding-cuts-are-putting-vulnerable-prisoners-at-risk">intensified</a> following the onset of the government’s austerity programme. </p>
<p>Children with learning disabilities <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2008/dec/03/learning-disability-prison-learning-difficulties">are known</a> to be disadvantaged in prisons and to be more susceptible to bullying, segregation and depression. They can often struggle to follow written instructions relating to prison rules, to complete paperwork, or to make doctors’ appointments. It can be difficult for these children to comply and comprehend what is expected of them. Support tends to be one-size-fits-all – tailored treatment to individuals with learning disabilities is <a href="http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2009/02/27/people-with-learning-disabilities-in-prison-2/">seldom offered</a>. </p>
<p>Although the rights of children in custody ought not to lag behind the rights of children generally, child prisoners are particularly vulnerable to having their rights abused and should be safeguarded. The Feltham young offender case highlights a grim aspect of youth custody and is yet another indicator of the crisis afflicting prisons in which understaffing, <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-wonder-prisons-are-getting-more-violent-theyre-full-to-the-brim-65921">overcrowding</a>, lack of training and high staff turnover are creating a dire situation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Creaney is affiliated with social justice charity Peer Power </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Richards does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A judge has ruled that placing a 16-year-old in solitary confinement breached his human rights.Sean Creaney, Lecturer in Psychosocial Analysis of Offending Behaviour, Edge Hill UniversityMichael Richards, Lecturer in Applied Health and Social Care, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/713662017-03-10T16:06:28Z2017-03-10T16:06:28ZHow to teach sex education to young offenders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160303/original/image-20170310-3687-1eja41i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teaching young offenders about sex and relationships. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Given the lack of quality sex and relationship education <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/not-yet-good-enough-personal-social-health-and-economic-education">in British schools</a>, and that sexual and reproductive health has traditionally been seen as the domain of females, it’s no wonder that the UK has the highest rates of <a href="http://www.fpa.org.uk/factsheets/teenage-pregnancy">teenage pregnancy</a> and <a href="http://www.fpa.org.uk/factsheets/sexually-transmitted-infections">sexually transmitted infections</a> in Western Europe. </p>
<p>But hopefully this could be about to change after the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/03/06/now-sex-education-compulsory-time-prepare-students-real-life/">government’s recent announcement</a> that all schools in England will make sex and relationships education compulsory. But it isn’t just children in school who need to know how to put a condom on – or that, yes, you can get pregnant the first time you have sex. </p>
<p>There are around <a href="http://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/about/facts-and-stats/">1,000 children at any one time</a> in youth custody – and they too need to know the birds from the bees. It doesn’t sound like one of the easiest jobs in the world does it? Teach sex and relationship education (SRE) to young men in youth custody – cue laughter, heckling and inappropriate gags. </p>
<p>But putting the laughter and jokes aside, these young men are arguably some of the most damaged in Britain. Most have experienced chaotic lifestyles and lack positive male role models – or anyone to look up to in terms of attitudes and behaviours towards women, sex, contraception and parenting. And, because of this, these boys are often ill-equipped to deal with adult life and what lies ahead of them – making sex and relationship education exactly the sort of knowledge that young offenders need to be equipped with. </p>
<h2>Thinking about the consequences</h2>
<p>Focusing on the needs of our most marginalised young men is a powerful way of addressing these imbalances. Helping these young men to maintain healthy relationships, as well as good health and well-being, can help them break the intergenerational transmission of <a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/lgb4/chapter/introduction">health inequalities</a>. </p>
<p>Prompting these men to think more about their roles and responsibilities in avoiding unintended pregnancy and STIs – and reproduction and parenting – are elements that have often been missing from their lives. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160310/original/image-20170310-15265-64ye20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160310/original/image-20170310-15265-64ye20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160310/original/image-20170310-15265-64ye20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160310/original/image-20170310-15265-64ye20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160310/original/image-20170310-15265-64ye20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160310/original/image-20170310-15265-64ye20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160310/original/image-20170310-15265-64ye20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teaching the basics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As part of a sex education programme, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310472173_A_systematic_review_and_qualitative_synthesis_of_adolescents%27_views_of_sexual_readiness">my colleagues and I</a> were recently invited in to the young offenders’ institution, Hydebank Wood College in Belfast Northern Ireland, to deliver a <a href="http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/IfIWereJack/IfIWereJackinHydebankWoodCollege/">SRE workshop</a>. </p>
<p>The college is the first in the UK to transition to “secure school” <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34854895">status</a> in April 2015. This has required a major rethink of the role of punishment and prison in young people’s lives. Changes have included health behaviours, employability skills and a new educational curriculum provided in-house by <a href="https://www.belfastmet.ac.uk">Belfast Metropolitan College</a> being placed firmly at the heart of rehabilitation.</p>
<p>Sex and relationships education is seen as part of this rehabilitation process. And the programme we used to help deliver this is called <a href="http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/IfIWereJack/">If I were Jack</a>. It is an intervention which uses films to encourage discussion on issues related to unintended pregnancy from a young man’s perspective. “Jack” has been piloted in Northern Ireland schools and found to be effective at helping young people think for themselves about how to avoid an unintended pregnancy.</p>
<h2>Becoming Jack</h2>
<p>During the programme we focused on relationships as a way to get these young men thinking about their social “connectedness” and the impact of their behaviours and the choices they make – not only on their own health and well-being but on that of their children, partners, families and society at large. </p>
<p>Overall, the majority of the young men gained a better understanding of the impact of their behaviour. And many self-referred to additional support services offered at the college, including bereavement and drugs counselling. Here are some of the things they said about their experiences of the course:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I learned new things and thought about things I never had before like what I would do if that happened to me.</p>
<p>It made you think more about understanding the girl’s point of view and how it (having a baby) affects your life.</p>
<p>Very useful because it’s good to talk about these kind of things and hear other people’s views, it gives insight.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During our programme many of the staff at the college told us how many of the boys had never heard this sort of thing before. One staff member explained how:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It would be great to see more of this work that is challenging those gender stereotypes across the board because even an awful lot of crime is very gender based isn’t it?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Reforming rehabilitation</h2>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.cjini.org/TheInspections/Inspection-Reports/Latest-Publications.aspx?did=1772">criminal justice inspection report</a> on Hydebank Wood college has already found a dramatic improvement since the previous <a href="http://www.cjini.org/TheInspections/Inspection-Reports/Latest-Publications.aspx?did=1252.">inspection</a> in 2013. The change in status was welcomed, student engagement was described as “outstanding” and relationships between staff and students – as the inmates are now known – had significantly improved. </p>
<p>The English government is also planning to launch two new <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/10/secure-schools-to-help-tackle-youth%20crime?CMP=share_btn_tw">secure schools</a> in the future, after seeing the good work at Hydebank. </p>
<p>Universities and health-care providers all now need to ask what they can do to advance this project and help young prisoners turn their lives around. Because the experience at Hydebank has shown that partnering with external organisations to support learning and skills development can be very useful.</p>
<p>Whether this reduces the likelihood of re-offending remains to be seen – but the improvements at Hydebank, since transforming to “secure school” status, demonstrates what can be achieved when reform and rehabilitation are encouraged.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71366/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Templeton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.</span></em></p>Because it’s not just children in school who need to know how to put a condom on.Michelle Templeton, Research Fellow in Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/676812016-11-11T14:24:09Z2016-11-11T14:24:09ZSpalding murders must not be used to justify more punitive responses to young offenders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145469/original/image-20161110-25066-d8y5mh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tributes left to Elizabeth Edwards and her daughter Katie, murdered in April 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Radburn/PA Wire</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two teenagers convicted of stabbing and smothering to death a mother and daughter in their own home in Spalding, Lincolnshire <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/10/teenagers-jailed-for-at-least-20-years-for-spalding-murders-elizabeth-katie-edwards">have been sentenced</a> to life in prison. The extreme nature of the sentence – which means the two will not be eligible for parole for 20 years – reflects the severity of the offence. </p>
<p>But the two perpetrators were 14 years of age at the time of the crime – and the sentence, combined with the legal and media response to the crime, does little to reflect the perpetrators’ relative immaturity, irresponsibility or lack of moral and cognitive development. </p>
<p>During the sentencing, the judge, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-lincolnshire-37929771?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=58248c62e4b05d511bb329ad%26Grotesque%20and%20chilling:%20Judge%20on%20Spalding%20murders%26&ns_fee=0#post_58248c62e4b05d511bb329ad">described</a> the killing of Elizabeth and Katie Edwards as “grotesque” and “chilling” and said that it was “a terrible crime with few parallels in modern criminal history”. </p>
<p>Yet the reaction to Spalding case has similarities to the 1993 abduction, torture and murder of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1993/nov/02/bulger.tomsharratt">two-year-old James Bulger</a> in Liverpool. His murder, committed by two ten-year-old boys, caused public outrage and the perpetrators, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, were demonised by politicians and the media – branded “nasty” and “evil”. John Major, the prime minister at the time, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/major-on-crime-condemn-more-understand-less-1474470.html">insisted</a> that society should “condemn a little more and understand a little less”. The Bulger murder prompted both the media and government to argue that Britain was living through a “<a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/youth-and-crime/book241450">crisis of childhood</a>” – based on a perceived breakdown of moral and social order.</p>
<p>The print media and politicians have historically <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Young-People-Crime-and-Justice-2nd-Edition/Hopkins-Burke/p/book/9781138776623">misrepresented youth crime</a> by distorting the reality of violent behaviour – making serious crimes in which children kill children seem more frequent and widespread than they actually are.</p>
<p>The danger now is that the horrific Spalding murders, like the Bulger murder before them, may be hijacked to service political interest and media agendas. But it would be wrong to use this highly atypical offence to justify the increased criminalisation and demonisation of children who offend. </p>
<h2>After James Bulger</h2>
<p>Distortion and sensationalising of youth crime has significantly influenced the direction of youth justice policy, and has been employed in a post-hoc way to <a href="http://crj.sagepub.com/content/10/2/155.abstract">validate existing policy ideas</a>. For example, the murder of James Bulger led the age of criminal responsibility to be lowered to ten, in line with the ages of Venables and Thompson. Michael Howard, the Conservative home secretary at the time, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1099-0860.1997.tb00013.x/abstract">asserted</a> that young offenders: “will no longer be able to use age as an excuse for immunity from effective punishment”. </p>
<p>The result of this misrepresentation of the scale of the problem of youth crime to serve political and media interests has been an intense fear and mistrust of young people from the general public, accompanied by a desire for increasingly punitive and controlling sanctions. In the process, children who offend have been deprived of their innocence, vulnerability and status as a “child”.</p>
<p>New policies proposed after Bulger’s murder in the 1990s were vote winners and tabloid pleasers. After it came to power in 1997, the new Labour government introduced methods that stigmatised young offenders. These <a href="http://oro.open.ac.uk/7294/1/Governing_young_people.pdf">included</a> risk assessment and preventative early intervention, among other “crackdowns”, initiatives, targets, policy proposals and pilot schemes. These were informed by the quick-fix idea that youth crime could be “nipped in the bud” and intervention undertaken before a crime was committed. </p>
<p>Despite pathways into and out of crime being notoriously complex and difficult to measure accurately, the Labour government deployed surveillance, control and regulation of children’s behaviour to predict the “risk” they presented to themselves and others, justifying these early interventions to manage that risk. </p>
<h2>Children in prison have become rarer</h2>
<p>This emphasis on risk assessment is very slowly being phased out of youth justice systems in England and Wales, but <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assetplus-assessment-and-planning-in-the-youth-justice-system/assetplus-assessment-and-planning-in-the-youth-justice-system">AssetPlus</a> – a new assessment and intervention planning tool – still prioritises the likely risk of reoffending as its key outcome. Preventative intervention remains the basis of AssetPlus.</p>
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<p>Still, since the Conservative-led coalition government took power in 2010, there have been <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/SC-01-2014-0002">annual reductions</a> in young people drawn into the formal criminal justice process for the first time – building on a trend that began in 2008. Child arrests in England and Wales have <a href="http://howardleague.org/news/childarrests2015/">fallen by 59%</a> in five years. There have also been annual reductions in the <a href="http://thenayj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NAYJ-Briefing-State-of-Youth-Custody-2016.pdf">number of children</a> sentenced to custody, which in 2016 are at their lowest levels since 2000. </p>
<p>A case such as the Spalding murders attracts significant attention and publicity. Clearly horrific and devastating though the case is, it remains an extremely rare type of offence. The danger is that such an extreme crime committed by two teenagers could motivate a rapid change in political and public mood and in perceptions of young people. </p>
<p>Despite their seriousness, these high-profile murders are isolated acts and must not be used by the politicians and the media to justify more punitive responses to young people who commit crime.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Creaney is affiliated with the National Association for Youth Justice and social justice charity Peer Power. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Case does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two teenagers have been sentenced to life for a double murder. But their crime is extremely rare.Sean Creaney, Lecturer in Psychosocial Analysis of Offending Behaviour, Edge Hill UniversityStephen Case, Professor of Criminology, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/669832016-10-20T02:50:58Z2016-10-20T02:50:58ZProtection, not public shaming, is the way forward for child offenders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141553/original/image-20161013-16246-lus93l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Naming and shaming exacerbates criminal behaviour due to the stigma attached with such a label.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Victorian opposition recently announced its intention to push for reform of legal responses to child offenders. Described as a “<a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/state-opposition-leader-matthew-guy-announces-crackdown-plan-for-teen-thugs/news-story/3a816c7e3672fea2727c6c326f1cbd28">two-strike-style crackdown</a>”, the proposed reforms include removing the protection of anonymity for repeat young offenders and removing the right to request bail.</p>
<p>The opposition describes the weakening of existing laws that ensure the anonymity of all children brought before the Children’s Court as enabling the “cloak of secrecy” to be lifted. Justifying the push to name repeat child offenders in “exceptional circumstances”, Shadow Attorney-General John Pesutto <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/state-opposition-leader-matthew-guy-announces-crackdown-plan-for-teen-thugs/news-story/3a816c7e3672fea2727c6c326f1cbd28">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In these circumstances, the public’s right to know takes on great significance and should be a more powerful factor in a court’s decision to allow publication of relevant details of violent offending, including the identity of the offender.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But is there merit in naming-and-shaming policies for children in conflict with the law?</p>
<h2>The dangers of naming and shaming</h2>
<p>Proponents of naming child offenders – those aged under 18 – argue it secures community safety, deters other children from crime, and ensures children do not evade responsibility for their actions. However, <a href="http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/05/04/bjc.azw042.full">our recent research</a> refutes the merits of naming child offenders.</p>
<p>Such policies – even when applied to serious and/or recidivist offenders – breach the child’s right to privacy, undermine attempts at rehabilitation, and deny a child’s prospect of reintegration. </p>
<p>Rather than acting as a deterrent, naming and shaming also exacerbates criminal behaviour due to the stigma attached to such a label.</p>
<p>By removing the child’s access to privacy within the legal system, naming-and-shaming policies impose a secondary punishment on a child beyond criminal sanction. </p>
<p>This is particularly problematic given the rise of social media, surveillance, and the global spread of information. An offender named publicly can expect their identity to be shared across multiple news outlets and accessed by national and international audiences. </p>
<p>The long-term negative impacts for the child include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>increased stigmatisation;</p></li>
<li><p>reduced prospects of rehabilitation and social integration; and</p></li>
<li><p>the sabotage of employment opportunities.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Protecting the rights of children</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/convention-rights-child">Convention of the Rights of the Child</a> enshrines a child’s right to privacy, including during all stages of criminal justice proceedings. By ratifying the convention, Australia has committed to uphold and protect the rights of all Australia children – including those charged, convicted and sentenced for a criminal offence.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/j3unsmr.htm">Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Justice</a> provide additional guidance on international norms regarding the privacy of a child in conflict with the law:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The juvenile’s right to privacy shall be respected at all stages in order to avoid harm being caused to her or him by undue publicity or by the process of labelling.</p>
<p>In principle, no information that may lead to the identification of a juvenile offender shall be published.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While not binding, these rules are considered internationally accepted minimum standards.</p>
<p>The treatment of children in Australian detention centres has already <a href="https://theconversation.com/accusations-of-deliberate-cruel-abuse-of-refugee-children-must-prompt-a-more-humane-approach-67154">drawn international criticism</a> over failures to uphold their human rights. Changes that would widen the gulf between Australian practice and international standards should be avoided at all costs.</p>
<h2>Minimising contact with the criminal justice system</h2>
<p>Beyond naming and shaming, the Victorian opposition proposes to remove the right to bail and introduce automatic remand for repeat offenders. </p>
<p>This approach would constitute an undue interference with the independence and discretion of the criminal justice system, and would render the criminal justice system a blunt instrument of executive design. Limiting judicial and parole board discretion would prolong children’s contact with the criminal justice system and undermine efforts to rehabilitate child offenders.</p>
<p>The recent images from the Don Dale detention centre in the Northern Territory provided a stark wake-up call on the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2016/aug/01/how-young-is-too-young-charged-tried-and-imprisoned-at-the-age-of-10">dangers of incarcerating children</a>. </p>
<p>Victoria, a state that has previously been praised for its progressive approach to youth justice, must now stand firm against the push for punitive policies against children.</p>
<h2>Recognising vulnerability</h2>
<p>The opposition’s proposed reforms are specific to Victoria. But the dangers of punitive legal responses to child offenders is an issue of national importance. </p>
<p>As the royal commission into the NT’s detention centres continues and other inquiries begin across Australia, there is a need to ensure that the rights of Australian children in conflict with the law are not further diminished.</p>
<p>Punitive and reactionary policies targeted at child offending are ineffective responses to youth crime. <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/401-420/tandi409.html">Research</a> has consistently found children who come before the courts charged with a criminal offence are likely to have disadvantaged backgrounds and have experienced profound adversity, including family violence, poverty and family disruption. </p>
<p>Australian state governments investing in tackling the causes of disadvantage and strengthening communities would be a far more effective crime-reduction strategy than ad hoc policies aimed at punishing children.</p>
<p>The public has nothing to gain from sensationalist media articles about youth crime. And there is certainly nothing to be gained from stripping children of their privacy and destroying their prospects of a meaningful place in society. </p>
<p>Instead, political involvement in youth justice policy must be evidence-based, and aimed at rehabilitating children and reintegrating them into the community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66983/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Fitz-Gibbon is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Monash University and a Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Law and Social Justice at University of Liverpool. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy O'Brien is a Lecturer in Criminology at Deakin University, and the National Coordinator for the Human Rights Program of the United Nations Association of Australia. In her previous role, at the Australian Crime Commission, Wendy conducted research on the wellbeing of children in conflict with the law.
</span></em></p>Changes that would widen the gulf between Australian practice and international standards should be avoided at all costs.Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Monash UniversityWendy O'Brien, Lecturer in Criminology, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/531402016-01-19T14:54:48Z2016-01-19T14:54:48ZInstitutional abuse: why we don’t listen to children behind bars<p>The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/13/three-men-arrested-suspicion-child-neglect-abuse-medway-kent">continuing fall-out</a> from allegations of abuse <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06ymzly">made by BBC Panorama</a> at the G4S-run Medway Secure Training Centre needs to be the beginning of a process that will lead to closer scrutiny of the “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/secure-estate-for-young-people-contact-details">secure estate</a>” – the system of institutions, training centres and homes for juveniles in the UK.</p>
<p>In a report based on an undercover investigation, the Panorama team alleged ill treatment of children by staff including slapping, unnecessary restraint and the falsifying of records. Following a number of arrests, <a href="http://www.g4s.uk.com/en-GB/Media%20Centre/News/2016/01/14/Comment%20on%20actions%20of%20Kent%20Police/">G4S said</a> in a statement that they fully supported the actions of the police and would continue to provide officers with full access to the centre and records. </p>
<p>The explanations and outrage that followed the film have contained two dominant arguments: that responsibility lies with staff and that procedures, monitoring and accountability should have been sufficient to ensure that these incidents could not happen or go unreported. But a more searching explanation is required of why and how abusive institutional cultures are created. If this is not addressed, the systems and procedures for child protection within the secure estate will not adequately identify and respond to concerns.</p>
<p>The young people who enter custodial environments tend to be vulnerable and disadvantaged, including <a href="http://thenayj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/State-of-Youth-Justice-Oct15.pdf">those with learning difficulties</a> and <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/ProjectsResearch/CareReview">histories of care</a>. According to a 2015 Prison Reform Trust review, children and young people who are, or have been, in care were more than five times more likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. The most recent <a href="http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/secure-training-centres/medway">inspection report of Medway in 2014</a>, which houses 12 to 17-year-olds who have been remanded or sentenced to detention, found 45% of youngsters there had care histories. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108067/original/image-20160113-10417-1ixuyib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108067/original/image-20160113-10417-1ixuyib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108067/original/image-20160113-10417-1ixuyib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108067/original/image-20160113-10417-1ixuyib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108067/original/image-20160113-10417-1ixuyib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108067/original/image-20160113-10417-1ixuyib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108067/original/image-20160113-10417-1ixuyib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Already vulnerable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-50396200/stock-photo-unhappy-teenager.html?src=4pRadyUetDmb1W32ApMgng-1-19">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Anyone who has ever worked within children’s social care will have witnessed the journey a young child may make when they enter the care system, from an object of care and concern to a young person who is written off and reviled. The youth justice system, with its focus on responsibility and behaviour modification (see the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/37/contents">Crime and Disorder Act 1998</a>), doesn’t adequately address the underlying issues that come with this vulnerable group or tackle their multiple needs.</p>
<p>It is little wonder that a trajectory of multiple disadvantages, along with a system that stigmatises and labels young people with a criminal identity, results in a situation where those charged with their care can treat them with derision, cruelty and contempt. </p>
<p>What we should be debating is whether what are effectively child prisons are suitable environments for the care and rehabilitation of children.</p>
<p>Children’s rights campaigner Carolyne Willow argued at an event at the University of Salford <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/MRCSalford/controversies-of-child-imprisonment">in 2015</a> that placing children within these institutions was informed by “the rule of optimism” – the idea that, despite any evidence to the contrary, you trust in the essential good of the people working in these institutions. </p>
<p>In her searing and unflinching book, <a href="http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781447321538">Children behind Bars</a>, Willow documents how children are humiliated by a culture that tolerates bullying (both from staff and other young people), restraints and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/11/carolyne-willow-campaigner-child-prisons-childrens-rights">strip searching</a> that in some cases contravenes their rights and well-being. </p>
<p>Many vulnerable children are held in conditions and experience violence and humiliation that would not be tolerated within families and in the wider community, but are enabled by a lack of transparency and culture of secrecy in the custodial environment.</p>
<p>And as Willow makes clear, for some children a sentence can become a death sentence – <a href="http://inquest.org.uk/pdf/Deaths_of_Children_in_Penal_Custody_1990-date.pdf">33 children have died in custody</a> in custody between 1990 and 2012. </p>
<p>Just last year, a 15-year-old was found dead in his cell <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/08/boy-found-dead-cookham-wood-prison-cell">in Cookham Wood Secure Training Centre</a> in Kent – a centre that also <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3244372/Teenage-prisoners-held-kangaroo-court-boy-staff-looked-young-offender-s-jail-hit-rising-number-violent-attacks-inmates.html">faced damning criticism</a> after a recent inspection. Willow’s book opens with the tragic case of Joseph Scholes, a teenager <a href="http://inquest.org.uk/pdf/briefings/Joseph_Scholes_inquiry.pdf">who took his own life in 2002</a>, despite the knowledge of the authorities that <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Fatally%20Flawed.pdf">he was at high risk of self-harm</a>.</p>
<p>Children in these institutions come with feelings, experiences and voices that are not recognised in the official narrative and if a fraction of the money spent on incarceration was allocated to helping rather than blaming children then society would be better off as a whole.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jameel Hadi is affiliated with as a member of The National Association of Youth Justice and The Howard League. I worked within the youth justice system between 1992 and 2003 but have no current involvement beyond supporting the above.</span></em></p>Prison-style regimes are not safe for children – and especially for those who are already vulnerable.Jameel Hadi, Lecturer in Social Work, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/386712015-03-26T16:40:08Z2015-03-26T16:40:08ZHow space for creativity opens up young people’s minds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76124/original/image-20150326-8695-68xp31.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young people from New Cross get to tell their own stories. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://vimeo.com/118335100">Shootstraight, via Vimeo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Creative experiences can engage the demotivated, irrigate parched minds and illuminate serious socio-economic problems. And yet the current UK coalition government has launched a sustained attack on creativity in education.</p>
<p>Last November, Nicky Morgan, secretary of state for education, said <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/nicky-morgan-speaks-at-launch-of-your-life-campaign">at a launch</a> for a maths and physics education campaign that “the arts and humanities” were for students who “didn’t know” what they “wanted to do”. She said that while these subjects used to be thought of as “useful for all kinds of job”, now “this couldn’t be further from the truth”.</p>
<p>But the powerful impact of giving young people the space to be creative has been endorsed by many others – from Labour leader <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/feb/23/ed-miliband-pledge-universal-entitlement-arts-education">Ed Miliband</a> to educationalist <a href="http://sirkenrobinson.com/">Ken Robinson</a>, and it has opened some <a href="https://theconversation.com/creativity-could-be-the-clear-blue-water-between-labour-and-tories-on-education-38546">clear blue water</a> between the parties in this election campaign. </p>
<h2>Reaching for vocabulary</h2>
<p>At Goldsmiths, my colleagues Jim Anderson and Vicky Macleroy
have highlighted the power of giving young people creative space through <a href="https://goldsmithsmdst.wordpress.com/">Critical Connections</a>, a multilingual digital storytelling project funded by the <a href="http://www.phf.org.uk/">Paul Hamlyn Foundation</a>.</p>
<p>In this project, young language-learners in mainstream and complementary schools in the UK and beyond worked together to create “digital stories”. One learner created a PowerPoint presentation with a voice-over in Arabic about his uncle’s wedding in Algeria. A Year 8 class in a Catholic school in London created an animation about a fairy house in French. And a group of Palestinian teenagers created a short documentary in English about talented young local jugglers, musicians and poets.</p>
<p>The idea was that in creating their films, learners would work on narratives important to them – and in doing so would reach for the words and grammar they needed. This stretches learners to think beyond the dry vocabulary lists related to “my pet” or “buying a train ticket” which were standard fare in my childhood French class. </p>
<p>In analysing the learning that went on in the project, I found that in creative space, our Critical Connections learners went beyond “just” learning languages. The Algerian wedding film became a vehicle for the young learner to explain to other young people that language learning can make the difference between surviving and thriving in a new country. And the Palestinian teenagers’ talent showcase was the result of a conscious decision to address negative media stereotypes about Palestine as a warzone. </p>
<p>Anderson’s <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/educational-studies/staff/anderson/">approach</a> has informed language teaching across the UK. It effectively produces motivation and confidence, a more genuine student voice and learner autonomy. </p>
<h2>A place to be in control</h2>
<p>Another collaboration with a Goldsmiths project called <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/open-book/">Open Book</a> aimed at widening the participation in education of ex-offenders and those who have suffered from addiction. Eight young people progressed through a three-month improvisation and film workshop run by non-profit community interest company <a href="http://www.shootstraight.co.uk/home/4568895063">Shootstraight</a>. Their lives in deprived, crime-ridden areas of London were appallingly complicated, dangerous and grinding – and yet through the creative process, they showed immense reserves of inventiveness and resilience. </p>
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<p>The project used improvisation workshops to develop young people’s belief that, as the workshop leader, Lucinda Cary put it: “everything they need is in their imaginations”. In one activity, Cary asked the actors to draw a card from a pack and then exude the status denoted by the card – improvising a scene, walking across a room, or even just sitting silently on a chair. </p>
<p>In the middle of a life controlled by JobCentre and probation service appointments, police stop-and-search, and exclusion from mainstream education, they were able to experience feelings of confidence, entitlement, and control. At the same time, the young people were able to tell their stories – to voice their troubles and identify the sticking points in their lives. </p>
<p>After a few weeks of improvisation exercises, Cary and her cameraman brought in a camera and focused it on the young actors. Its gaze served to value them and their stories.</p>
</a><p><a href="https://vimeo.com/118335100">The Shootstraight workshops led to the creation of a </a><a href="https://vimeo.com/118335100">film, New Cross Gate</a>, which follows a few days in the lives of a diverse group of friends in south-east London. The script emerged from the stories and scenarios the young people drew on during their improvisation workshops and addresses personal relationships, violence, homophobia, poverty, and the dignity-sapping benefits system.</p>
<p>Building on their new-found confidence, some of the participants are now in full-time work and a few are employed as part-time film technicians and actors. The film was launched at the House of Lords on March 25. Through the creative process, their improvised status has been made real.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Some of Anna Carlile's work at Goldsmiths receives funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. </span></em></p>Given the chance to be creative, young people shine.Anna Carlile, Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/86902012-08-22T01:52:00Z2012-08-22T01:52:00ZNaming and shaming young offenders: reactionary politicians are missing the point<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/14434/original/9cfjxxvs-1345443760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The evidence is in: policies to name and shame young offenders are based on knee-jerk assumptions and disrupt rehabilitative efforts.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> BlueRobot/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month, Queensland’s Attorney-General <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-14/qld-name-and-shame-proposal/4130614">Jarrod Bleijie called for the public naming of all youth who appear in court</a>.</p>
<p>Echoing practices from the deep south of the USA where t-shirts, signs outside homes and photographs of errant teenagers have been used, Queensland has jumped on the “name and shame” bandwagon … and not for the first time. </p>
<p>During the 2006 Queensland election campaign the then-Coalition parties wanted to make it mandatory to name juveniles over 13 years who had committed a serious offence.</p>
<p>Again in 2009 there was political stoushing between Anna Bligh and Lawrence Springborg about identifying delinquent youth. </p>
<h2>A nation-wide issue</h2>
<p>Queensland is not alone in promulgating name and shame policies. This issue has been raised in <a href="http://news.smh.com.au/national/nsw-wont-name-and-shame-juvenile-crims-20080428-291r.html">New South Wales</a> and more recently in <a href="http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/name-and-shame-laws-in-force-in-wa-20110223-1b57h.html">Western Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Similar proposals have emanated from Canada, and were put into practice via civil <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Social_Behaviour_Order">Anti-Social Behaviour Orders</a> in the United Kingdom under its previous government.</p>
<p>But where is the evidence to suggest that the public identification of juveniles who are involved in criminal proceedings will have a positive effect on their subsequent behaviour? Where is the evidence that such naming will be of benefit to communities or even to victims of crime? </p>
<p>The short answer: there is precious little.</p>
<h2>‘Good’ shaming versus reactionary rhetoric</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.aaps.or.kr/journal/attach2011/1.pdf">Recent research</a> has centred on the more positive forms of shaming, which are believed to be a part of <a href="http://www.restorativejustice.org/university-classroom/01introduction/">restorative justice</a> practices, such as “<a href="http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0402-accountable.html">youth accountability conferences</a>”. These programs utilise the positive, transformative power of shaming, while avoiding the negative effects of <em>public</em> stigmatisation. </p>
<p>While apparently politically appealing, cries to openly name and shame are ill-informed.</p>
<p>Politicians pushing for the names of juvenile offenders to be in large bold type in newspapers or, worse still, depicted on broadcast news or captured forever on the internet fail to deal with the stigma attached to these kinds of practices.</p>
<p>The name and shame proposals, apart from ignoring fundamental international principles espoused in documents such as the <a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>, also fail to consider which young people might be subject to such naming. </p>
<p>These young people are often from backgrounds of multiple disadvantage, and who may be subject to some form of welfare protection. In these cases, welfare acts often contain provisions that prohibit public disclosure of identities.</p>
<p>So while reactionary politicians seek reform to juvenile justice regulations, they may find that efforts to name and shame will be stymied because young people are under the “care” of their own governments. </p>
<p>It is also the case that those calling the loudest to name and shame offer the caveat that they “only wish to name the really rotten ones” (and I am aware of at least one newspaper editor who invoked this refrain, only he used somewhat “bluer” language). </p>
<p>Presumably then, a key aim of the calls to name and shame is addressed at recidivism. This is based on the false assumption that if the names of young offenders could be published or broadcast then this would thwart their criminal careers. </p>
<p>The reality is that those young people already well-embedded in the juvenile justice system are unlikely to be swayed by naming and shaming.</p>
<h2>A self-fulfilling prophecy</h2>
<p>There is little evidence to demonstrate that the naming of young people will prevent recidivism.</p>
<p>In fact, recent research conducted by Professor Duncan Chappell and myself in the Northern Territory (the only jurisdiction in Australia where juvenile justice provisions permit the naming of youth brought before the courts) presents anecdotal evidence that naming and shaming can have the opposite effect.</p>
<p>In a few instances, young people were actually emboldened in their offending, convinced they had a sullied reputation to live up to. </p>
<p>This view is supported by Russell Goldflam from the Criminal Lawyers Association of the Northern Territory (CLANT) who says there is potential for a “badge of honour” effect from public identification. </p>
<p>For many others though, being named simply brought greater police attention not only to themselves but to their families and communities as well.</p>
<h2>Detrimental outcomes for indigenous youth</h2>
<p><a href="http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=lawpapers">Professor Chappell and I have noted elsewhere</a> that there are a number of detrimental outcomes arising from any disclosure of juveniles’ identities. These include a misuse of the concept of shaming (i.e. stigmatising),the potential for vigilante action, a false sense of community protection, and the possibility of disrupting rehabilitative efforts.</p>
<p>Our research found that youth were rarely named in the media often because of welfare provisions, or because most juvenile offending is petty and lacking in salacious news values. However, some individuals were singled out and, in these instances, there was evidence of repeated naming to the detriment of those young people and their families.</p>
<p>Of particular concern, were Indigenous youth – so grossly over-represented in the juvenile justice system, who were similarly over-represented in those singled out for public identification. </p>
<p>There was evidence too that the naming of these young people meant that sporting scholarships were jeopardised, employment prospects were diminished, and even the capacity for their families to obtain housing was badly affected.</p>
<p>The movement to publicly name juvenile offenders is clearly gathering momentum. We are witnessing the erosion of long-held protections for youthful offenders, and the international conventions that support them. The imperative to rehabilitate and educate young offenders is being ignored, if not abandoned in favour of more politically expedient and popular positions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8690/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn Lincoln received funding from a research grant from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra to fund the project in the Northern Territory.</span></em></p>Last month, Queensland’s Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie called for the public naming of all youth who appear in court. Echoing practices from the deep south of the USA where t-shirts, signs outside homes…Robyn Lincoln, Assistant Professor, Criminology, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.