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

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DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT IN THE YOUTH JUSTICE SYSTEMor damage it in any way. It was just two kids playing where they shouldn’t. ‘Therewas no malice or intent.’One senior officer from Area B1 described how he managed the relationship betweenthe neighbourhood policing teams, meeting performance targets and fostering goodrelations between police community support officers (PCSOs), police officers andyoung people:‘From our perspective, we’re trying to apply an element of common sensearound how we are dealing with young people in the division, not to criminalisepeople just for the sake of criminalising them, just to meet performancetargets. We are quite interested in looking at the offence as it takes place, solow-level shoplifting, for example: is there really need - when I know, as apolice officer, who that individual is, where the parents are - to actuallycriminalise him and get him into the criminal justice system at that stage, orcould I take a more practical approach and deal with him in the store and withthe parents? That’s what we’re trying to influence at the moment with our staff.The idea really is that the longer term benefits [of not criminalising a youngperson] are obviously a lot better.’A decision not to search after a stop22.00 Police officers receive an immediate response call regarding a fight between20 teenagers in an underpass. The caller has mentioned to the police operator thatknives and baseball bats are being used. The two officers I am with arrive to find 12Somalian boys aged between 14 and 21 shouting at one another and a few pickingthemselves up off the floor. The teenagers are very angry and walk up to the officersand start shouting at them to mind their own business. The officers tell them to calmdown and explain that they weren’t looking for them but that a member of the publicdialled 999 to report a fight. The young men do not believe the officers and startshouting and swearing at them, calling them ‘fucking blood clots’. The officers tell theyoung men that none of them will be leaving until they have spoken to their controlroom and got more facts about the call, however, in the meantime they all need tocalm down. They are asked if they have any weapons on them.57
UNDERSTANDING THE POLICING OF YOUNG PEOPLEAt this point the shouting escalates in volume and the group jostles to push past thetwo officers. The officers again ask them to remain where they are. Although it isJanuary, few of the young men have coats on and it is obvious that none of them iscarrying a baseball bat. Two other officers arrive and the officers I am observing askthem to look around to see if they can see any weapons. In the meantime the officersask what the young men are fighting about and why they are all congregated in theunderpass. One of the group states that they weren’t fighting they were just shoutingat one another over stupid stuff. The control room is unable to provide the officerswith any further information regarding the call as they cannot re-contact the caller.The young men have begun to calm down and the officers tell them that they are notin trouble, it is just that they need to respond to calls when they come in, especiallyabout weapons. A couple of the group say that people tell the police there areweapons just to get a reaction from them; the officers agree that this does indeedhappen. The officers ask the boys where they are going and most say they are ontheir way home. The young boys are now quite calm and chatting idly to one anotherand the officers. The control room re-contact the officers to say that no other callsabout the incident have been received and they cannot contact the original caller.The two officers discuss between them whether to search the 12 young men. Theydecide that detaining the group for any longer would not help the situation and decideto warn them about fighting. The young men are told that if they get another callregarding any fighting and they are involved, they will all be arrested for public orderoffences. They are told to go home and be good. They walk off quietly.4.6 Scope for modifying styles of policingIn the abstract, it may seem obvious that in high crime areas where there aresignificant numbers of disaffected young people, the ‘rule of law’ policing style is tobe preferred to that of ‘controlling the streets’. Adversarial approaches to encounterswith the public seem almost purpose-designed to exacerbate young people’s senseof disaffection by demonstrating their powerlessness and inability to commandrespect from authority. The day-to-day realities of policing, however, exert strongpressures on police officers to adopt adversarial styles of policing, and thesepressures have to be understood if there is to be change.58
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Equality and Human Rights Commissio
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© Equality and Human Rights Commis
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Appendix A: Area profiles 97Appendi
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Tables and figuresPageTables3.1 Pop
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GlossaryBCUBasic Command UnitCJSCri
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYAssessing the reas
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPolice training•
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INTRODUCTIONover-represented in rob
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INTRODUCTIONthe increase in prosecu
Page 21 and 22: INTRODUCTIONIn contrast, a MORI sel
Page 23 and 24: INTRODUCTIONexplanation is that you
Page 25 and 26: INTRODUCTIONin itself, if the socia
Page 27 and 28: RESEARCH METHODS2. Research methods
Page 29 and 30: RESEARCH METHODS29% was white; 6% b
Page 31 and 32: RESEARCH METHODSfor several differe
Page 33 and 34: YOUNG PEOPLE’S ENTRY INTO THE YOU
Page 51 and 52: UNDERSTANDING THE POLICING OF YOUNG
Page 71: UNDERSTANDING THE POLICING OF YOUNG
Page 81 and 82: PASSING THROUGH THE YOUTH JUSTICE S
Page 105 and 106: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS6. Discus
Page 107 and 108: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONSdefendant
Page 109 and 110: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONSdifficult
Page 111 and 112: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONSFurther r
Page 113 and 114: APPENDICES10- to 17-year-old popula
Page 115 and 116: APPENDICES16s making up 23% of the
Page 117 and 118: APPENDICESAppendix B:Tables of offe
Page 119 and 120: APPENDICESCustody record dataTable
Page 121 and 122: APPENDICESTable B7Area C custody re
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APPENDICESAppendix C:YOT data sampl
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APPENDICESTable C3ONS estimated 10-
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APPENDICESTable C5Profile of crimes
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APPENDICESTable C6 Profile of crime
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APPENDICESTable C7aCase profile% Ma
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APPENDICESTable C8Proportion of off
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Table C10Proportion of disposals gi
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Table C12Proportion of sentenced di
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Appendix D:Multivariate logistic re
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APPENDICESTable D3Model of prosecut
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APPENDICESTable D6Model of dismissa
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APPENDICESTable D8: Model of Remand
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APPENDICESTable D10Asset sample, mo
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APPENDICESTable D11Asset sample, mo
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Table D13Model of community sentenc
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APPENDICESTable D15 Model of custod
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APPENDICESTable D17Length of custod
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REFERENCESReferencesAudit Commissio
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REFERENCESMirrlees-Black, C., Budd,
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ContactsEnglandEquality and Human R
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