Differential treatment in the youth justice system - Equality and ...

DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT IN THE YOUTH JUSTICE SYSTEMThe government’s commitment to neighbourhood policing, with values that are rootedin traditional community policing, is to be welcomed. However, we have seen atension between the desire to reassure the public – for example through visibleassertive policing – and to retain the confidence of those who are most often or mostheavily policed. In our view the most important target audience for any ‘confidencebuilding’strategies are those groups most at risk of involvement in crime – which, inthe areas we studied, will be teenage boys and young men from sociallydisadvantaged ethnic groups.Our examination of young people’s experience once they have entered the youthjustice process suggests overall that the disproportionality that occurs at the point ofentry is preserved as they pass through the system. Differential treatment occurs atsome points in the system – indicating the possibility of discrimination betweengroups – though we found no evidence of differential use of custody except at theremand stage (which may have knock-on effects at sentencing). In general,differences in the treatment of different ethnic groups were smaller than differencesacross areas. Clearly the need here is for continued monitoring to check fordifferential treatment, and to see if ethnicity rather than other relevant factors is apredictor of these differences. For this to be done, there needs to be periodicrepetition of the sort of analysis presented here and in Feilzer and Hood (2004).Simple monitoring of differences in outcomes for different ethnic groups is necessary,but not sufficient to establish whether the system is operating fairly.The recommendations below relate largely to policing, because our analysissuggests that the issues that need most attention are at the point of entry,rather than in the later stages of the youth justice process.Police leadershipWe see a need for a shift from adversarial to professional styles of policing youngpeople. This requires changes to policing culture and values, which is not easy toachieve. For this to occur, there has to be clear and visible leadership about thequality and style of policing that senior officers expect their staff to deliver, and aboutthe standards of professionalism that are required. Making this change happen is93