Equality in youth justice

The YJB is committed to promoting equal opportunities, and eradicating discrimination, so that our staff and those receiving youth justice services are dealt with fairly regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or any disability. Equality and diversity are at the heart of our practice, policies and services.

Support in this important area of activity will be provided by YJB consultants - requests for support should be made via your regional team.

To help us to tackle discrimination, research has been carried out by the University of Oxford to investigate whether there is evidence of disproportionate sentences and disposals being given to black and minority ethnic (BME) young people. Click to purchase the full research report or to order or download the research summary.

In July 2010 we published research exploring the needs of BME young people who offend and the provision of targeted interventions by youth offending teams (YOTs). Click to download the report.

The YJB's corporate target on ethnic equality is:

"Ensure that YOTs and secure facilities have action plans in place by April 2005 to achieve equal treatment at local level for comparable offences by different ethnic groups and deliver targeted prevention activity that substantially reduces local differences by ethnicity in recorded conviction rates."

Race Audit and Action Planning Toolkit

Download the  Race Audit and Action Planning Toolkit for YOTs Version 3 which was produced to enable YOTs to audit their practice and produce action plans for improvement.

We have provided an Excel spreadsheet of data to populate the quantitative tables in the toolkit. Download the race audit supplementary data. 

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Guidance

• In May 2001 the YJB published  Guidance for Youth Offending Teams on Achieving Equality. This guidance document provides practical suggestions for establishing a common framework to promote fairness for everyone interacting with the youth justice system. It places responsibility on each institution involved in the administration of justice to demonstrate consistency, fairness and to keep its policies and procedures under regular review.
• We have produced guidance on working with young refugees and asylum seekers.

Other projects

• The YJB has grant-funded a number of Mentoring Plus projects for black and ethnic minority and 'hard to reach' young people.
• We have produced a CRE Leadership Challenge report setting out activities the YJB has in hand to meet its responsibilities under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.
• The ISSP grant is being redistributed with some of the funds being made available to target black and minority ethnic young people in high custody areas to reduce over representation in custody.
• As part of our HR and learning strategy we are introducing new 'gateway' qualifications in youth justice to attract a more diverse entry into youth justice work. This builds on the successful West Yorkshire Advanced Modern Apprenticeship pilot.