Youth Justice
How do we best support arrested children to prevent them becoming involved in violence?
The Youth Endowment Fund is a charity with a mission that matters. We’re here to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We think any credible plan to reduce violence has to recognise that children rely on seven essential sectors to be safe, one of which is youth justice. We plan to work with delivery organisations and system leaders to better understand and deliver on the changes most likely to reduce violence.
Why are we focusing on youth justice?
There are three key reasons why we are focusing on youth justice:
- Improving the way we support children means less victims and better lives for children
At least one in three children who are arrested and then convicted or cautioned go on to commit further offences. There is clear evidence that improving the way we respond to these children can reduce crime – this means less victims, more people feeling safe and better lives for children.
- Better evidence-based support to children who are diverted means less victims in future
Diverting children to effective services is a big opportunity to reduce re-offending. Evidence from many rigorous reviews, summarised in the YEF Toolkit, shows that approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy, mentoring or sport programmes can reduce offending. Conversely, approaches such as prison awareness programmes are known to be ineffective, or can even increase the chances of re-offending. Faster referrals to more effective services have the potential to improve outcomes for children.
- Improvements can be made to the way we respond to arrested children.
Although the use of diversion has increased over the last 20 years, there is insufficient awareness of what effective diversion looks like. The funding formula for youth justice services does not reflect local levels of need or properly recognise diversionary work. Vulnerabilities such as child sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation are too often missed at the point of arrest. Referrals to support can be slow, particularly for key therapeutic interventions.
Toolkit evidence
See below evidence from the YEF Toolkit about approaches to reducing violence that are often used in the youth justice sector:
Explore more approaches on YEF’s Toolkit summarising the best available research evidence on preventing children and young people’s involvement in violence.
Changing systems
How we are supporting change across the youth justice sector
In December 2023, we published our Systems Guidance: Arrested Children: how to keep children safe and reduce reoffending. The report summarises evidence of what works, the experiences of practitioners and young people, and provides a set of recommendations to improve practices, policies and systems.
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Systems Guidance
Report:Systems Guidance: Arrested Children
The Youth Endowment Fund exists to prevent children from becoming involved in violence. One of the ways we seek to achieve this mission is improving support for children when they are arrested. This includes diverting them from formal youth justice processes like appearing at court. This is a critical moment where effective support can change…
Partnering with the Centre for Justice Innovation
We’ve partnered with the Centre of Justice Innovation to:
- Build awareness and appetite for evidence across the sector.
- Support Youth Justice Services to improve practice and do what works.
- Support us to deliver the recommendations set out in our Systems Guidance.
The Centre for Justice Innovation are delivering a tiered level of support across the youth justice sector, including:
- Quarterly virtual learning events to build awareness of existing and emerging evidence on approaches, interventions and policy.
- Lighter touch training and support based upon the learning needs identified by the sector.
- Intensive support for ten youth justice services to adopt evidence-based approaches to supporting children at-risk of or involved in violence.
If you’d like to find out more about this support, contact us.
Find out how you can get involved with YEF
You are invited to join our events specifically for the youth justice sector, to see how we can collectively tackle violence prevention for young people.