Publications
SCYJ often responds to consultations from government departments and non-departmental public bodies on youth justice issues. We also produce thematic reports and position papers.
Responses to consultations 2010
Response to The Bradley Report and Healthy Children, Safer Communities (February 2010)
Responses to consultations 2008-2009
The responses below are listed in date order (most recent first):
Response to Council of Europe draft guidelines on child-friendly justice, December 2009
Response to Mayor of London's consultation Time for Action, December 2008
Response to government proposals in response to the review of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), November 2008
Response to Youth Crime Action Plan (YCAP), October 2008
Reports and position papers
SCYJ has recently published Raising the custody threshold (August 2010), which puts forward a proposal to help ensure that custody for children is ever only used as a last resort. SCYJ estimates that this measure could cut the current youth custody population in half and potentially save around £93m per year. A summary of the proposal is also available.
SCYJ has published its latest position paper, Custody for Children: The Impact (February 2010), which sets out the devastating impacts of the overuse of custody for children in England and Wales.
SCYJ's major report on the funding of custody for children. Funding of Custody for Children: Devolving the Budget, published in July 2009, analyses options for reform and recommends that, while an element of central commissioning and placement should be retained, budgets should be devolved, and the most suitable recipient would be Children's Trusts. This should be begun by the allocation of notional budgets with refund/recharge mechanisms, using a formula based on children's aggregate welfare needs. We believe that implementation of this scheme would lead to a substantial reduction in children's custody.
In 2006 SCYJ produced a position paper setting out the state of the system and our recommendations for reform. Click here to read Still Waiting for Youth Justice .
