News
Young People Deserve a Break From the Justice System
04 March 2011
The government's forthcoming social mobility strategy needs to do much more to help vulnerable young people. Too often policies aimed at increasing social mobility neglect the fact that contact with the criminal justice system can blight people's prospects, particularly those of teenagers. A criminal record, and especially a period in prison, can consign young adults to periods of unemployment and homelessness, which are linked to further offending.
While there has been a welcome recognition by government that diverting juveniles under 18 away from formal processing by the criminal justice system can prevent an escalation of youth offending, once people reach 18, everything changes.