New guide launched to help reduce criminalisation of care-experienced people

A new practical guide has been launched for legal professionals to help reduce the over-criminalisation of care-experienced children and young adults.

A group of leading charities, lawyers and care-experienced children and young adults have worked together to produce a new guide, which aims to address the fact that care-experienced children are up to six times more likely to be criminalised than other children.

The guide was launched at an event in Parliament hosted by Shadow Attorney General, Emily Thornberry MP, and will help lawyers prevent the unnecessary criminalisation of looked-after children and care leavers.

The guide was co-produced with care experienced young people who are part of the Policy Forum at the Drive Forward Foundation and was developed following a webinar hosted by Garden Court Chambers in 2021, 'How to Better Support Care Experience People in the Criminal Justice System'. The guide provides powerful testimony from children and young adults with lived experience, alongside the key legal framework and practical tips for lawyers.

Laura Cooper, Director of the Youth Justice Legal Centre (YJLC), which is publishing the report, highlighted the imbalance in the current system.

“It is incredibly unjust that care experienced children are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system when these are the very children we should be supporting. We are extremely proud to publish this comprehensive legal guide which we know will be a vital resource for practitioners in preventing the unnecessary criminalisation of care experienced children.”

“Care experienced children and young adults deserve lawyers who understand their needs, the legal protections available and the reasons why they are so vulnerable to criminalisation,” Kate Aubrey-Johnson, Barrister and Director of the Centre For Restorative Youth Justice added.

Jordan Morgan, founder of the Policy Forum and Trustee of the Drive Forward Foundation, which Drive Forward Foundation supports care experienced young people into sustainable and fulfilling employment and worked on the report, called for the Justice Select Committee to urgently launch an inquiry into youth diversion schemes and their application to care experienced young people.

“We warmly welcome collaboration to achieve this aim and to support young people leaving the care system to live a full, dignified life where their aspirations can be met with opportunities,” Morgan said.