Children and Young People in Custody (part 2): The Youth Secure Estate and Resettlement Contents

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3Disproportionality in custody

69.Part 1 of our inquiry into Children and Young People in Custody covered in detail the question of disproportionality of outcome for those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities. For that reason, this section of this Report focuses less on the wide picture in that area, and specifically on differences of outcome within the custodial estate for different groups within the youth justice system. This chapter should, therefore, be read in conjunction with the material in our Part 1 Report.

70.As outlined in our first report, David Lammy identified differing outcomes for different groups in his Independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for BAME individuals in the criminal justice system. Mr Lammy’s biggest concern was with youth justice, where the BAME proportion of youth prisoners had, when he wrote his review, risen from 25% to 41% in the decade 2006 to 2016.102 As of June 2020, that proportion had continued to rise substantially. For the first time, BAME children account for more than half the youth custodial population; 51.5% of children in custody were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.103 Approximately 18% of the 10 to 17-year-old general population is from BAME backgrounds.104

71.We have in our Children and Young People in Custody (Part 1) Report sought explanations of why so many more children and young people of BAME backgrounds are in custody, and we have asked that explanations include comparative data on the numbers of BAME children and others who plead guilty, and in differences between the types of offences of which children of BAME backgrounds and others are accused and convicted. The remainder of this chapter, therefore, focuses on matters specific to the secure estate and to leaving custody.

72.It has been suggested to us that there is disproportionate use of force against BAME children in custody: in the year ending March 2018, the rate of use of force per 100 children in custody was 57.2 for BAME children compared to 48.5 for White children.105 However, in the year ending March 2019, the proportions were near identical: 60.2 per hundred for White children and 59.3 for BAME children.106 Given that the number of children and young people in the estate is small, caution is necessary before conclusions are drawn and it is important to look at trends over time. Table 3 sets out the rate of use of force incidents per 100 children and young people in custody by ethnicity, STCs and YOIs in England and Wales for the years ending March 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Table 3: Rate of use of force incidents per 100 children and young people in custody by ethnicity, STCs and YOIs, England and Wales, Years ending March 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Source: Youth Justice Statistics, years 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19, Youth Justice Board and Ministry of Justice107

73.Other differences in the custodial experience of BAME children and White children are set out by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Youth Justice Board. Their joint 2020 report, Children in Custody, analyses perceptions of experience among 12 to 18-year-olds in STCs and YOIs in 2018/19. Experiences in custody for boys of BAME background differed from the experiences of their White counterparts in these respects:

• children from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were significantly less likely than white children to report prompt of fair responses to their complaints;
• children from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were significantly more likely than children from white backgrounds to report being verbally abused or threatened/intimidated by staff; and
• across the estate, children from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were significantly less likely than white children to report feeling cared for or respected by staff.108

74.Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons, not for the first time, expressed:

“a degree of frustration that we frequently point out to establishments that they should try to understand more about why there is clearly a very strong perception of disproportion among black and minority ethnic prisoners, and that includes children, across the whole range of custodial experience. We do that all the time, and it is frustrating that it is not followed up, in our experience, as thoroughly as it should be to analyse and understand it.”109

75.We questioned witnesses on why disproportionality has continued to increase despite the Lammy Review. EQUAL “believe that risk perception of BAME people is one of the key drivers of disproportionality in the CJS and the YJS more specifically. ‘Risk perception’ is the notion that BAME people are ‘riskier’ and therefore need to be risk assessed and managed accordingly, in spite of an absence of evidence that they pose a risk.”110 Jessica Mullen, Director of Influence and Communications, Clinks, said: “We know from disproportionality further down the system that often what is happening is the result of quite a complex interplay between perceptions of risk and racialised bias, be it conscious or unconscious, so we end up seeing escalation through the system of certain groups.”111

76.The Minister of State for Justice, Lucy Frazer, QC MP, Minister of State for Justice, told us: “We are very disappointed that there is racial disparity in the criminal justice system. As you know, we have already implemented a number of [David] Lammy’s recommendations and have committed to implementing the remainder in the next 12 months.”112 Hazel Williamson, Vice-Chair, Association of Youth Offending Team Managers, told us: “We know that the children and young people we work with have poorer outcomes in education and school, and there is further complexity for a BAME child who is experiencing racism and a generally poorer service because of the societal issues. We have not, I would agree, as a whole society done enough to change the situation, or not quickly enough, and people who are in power can change that”.113

77.We welcome the Ministry of Justice’s commitment to implement in full the remainder of David Lammy’s recommendations within the next 12 months. The Ministry should set out what resource has been allocated to this piece of work. We recommend that the response to this Report provide a full and detailed timetable setting out how and by when those recommendations will be implemented. We recommend that that timetable be accompanied by an outline of how sufficient resources will be provided in the immediate and longer terms to ensure that disproportionality in the system is reduced now and remains so in future.