Published -
December 11, 2023 Sections
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 a child’s life and keep them safe.
Why we are focusing on arrested children
There are five reasons why we have decided to focus on arrested children and how they are diverted:
1. Improving the way we support arrested 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.
2. Diverting children who have committed low-level offences away from the criminal justice system means less victims in future
There is strong evidence that diverting children who have committed low-level or first-time offences away from the criminal justice system, rather than taking them to court, can protect them from future involvement in crime. It can also lower the severity of any crimes children do later commit. This is crucial for victims, for children themselves, and for wider society.
3. Better evidence-based support to children who are diverted means less victims in future
Diverting children to effective services, such as mentoring and therapy is a big opportunity to reduce re-offending. Evidence from a large number of rigorous reviews, summarised in the YEF Toolkit, shows that approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy 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 has the potential to improve outcomes for children.
4. 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, especially in the police. 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.
5. How we treat arrested children matters for race equity
There are clear inequities in the demographics of which children are diverted and which children progress through the criminal justice system. While the number of children entering the youth justice system has fallen dramatically over recent years, this fall has been much more pronounced for white children. Asian, Black and mixed heritage children are less likely to be diverted and more likely to be charged than white children. A type of diversion called deferred prosecution, which doesn’t require children to admit guilt, could help to address this disparity.
What needs to happen, and what will we do?
The YEF recommends seven changes for improving support for arrested children. Over the next 5 years we’ll work with key partners and invest our own funding to support these changes:
1
Police have the incentives to use diversion
The crime outcomes reporting framework currently discourages police from diverting children to positive activities that could reduce re-offending. We will work with the Home Office to update the framework so that Outcome 22 is recorded as a successful outcome when applied to children.
2
Police are confident to respond to vulnerable children
Each arrest of a child should be treated as a safeguarding opportunity as a well as a public safety opportunity; it is a moment to identify children who are vulnerable or being exploited. We will work with partners to ensure police are supported to identify and refer vulnerable children, to address this underlying cause of crime.
3
Funding reflects needs
The current funding formula for youth justice services is out-of-date and does not properly reflect informal diversionary work to reduce re-offending, or target it in the most important areas. We will work with the Ministry of Justice to review funding to better support diversion where it can have the biggest impact.
4
Fast and effective referrals
Research suggests that speed of referral is important and should happen soon after an arrest occurs. We will work with police, youth justice services and other partners involved in diversion so that referrals can be made as simple and straightforward as possible, usually within 4 weeks of arrest.
5
prioritise what works
Not all support is effective: some approaches can reduce re-offending; others can make things worse. We will work to ensure that youth justice services, policing staff, and other partners are confident on the evidence base of what approach is most likely to help a child stay safe.
6
Access to therapy
Large numbers of arrested children have unmet mental health needs. But very few receive any therapy to address this, even though we know it is effective. We propose an audit of access to evidence-based interventions, especially therapeutic support, and reliable access is provided for priority needs.
7
Better data
We know surprisingly little on who is diverted, what they receive, and what happens to them next. We will work with the Youth Justice Board to embed systems for capturing this data so that there’s a better national picture of diversion, and how it can be improved.
The National Children’s Bureau conducted a review of research into the implementation of diversion in England and Wales.
Get involved
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