Devolve youth justice to Wales, says review

23 Sep 10
The Welsh Assembly Government should be given control of youth justice policy, an independent report has recommended
By Paul Dicken

24 September 2010

The Welsh Assembly Government should be given control of youth justice policy, an independent report has recommended.


The report by Professor Rod Morgan, former chair of the Youth Justice Board in England and Wales, looked at the 'benefits and risks' of devolving youth justice.

Morgan said that policing and criminal justice policy was likely to stay with Westminster for some time. But, he added: ‘In practice, a distinctively Welsh policing and youth justice system is developing and the police and sentencers are influenced in their decisions by the context in which they operate.’

He said it also made sense for the powers to be devolved because the WAG was responsible for areas linked to youth offending such as education, social services and health.

But Morgan also found there would be cost implications in devolving youth justice, partly to do with losing economies of scale and with setting up a specialist unit.

The report, commissioned by the WAG and published on September 20, said youth justice policy had become a political arms race in Westminster as parties sought to ‘out-tough each other’.

Proportionally more children were in custody in England and Wales than in any other Western European country, while the risks and costs ‘could greatly be diminished were the WAG to commit itself to taking initiatives that would significantly reduce the criminalisation of children and their custody’.

The WAG welcomed the report. Deputy minister for children Huw Lewis said: ‘Through our All Wales Youth Offending Strategy we are already working to help prevent children and young people offending and re-offending by running projects throughout Wales which divert young people into meaningful activity and out of trouble. The devolution of youth justice could help us build on this work by developing a system which meets our needs in Wales.'

Lewis said the resource and finance issues raised would need to be looked at in detail, adding that ‘no one would want us to rush into this without first considering all the consequences, particularly given the difficult financial circumstances we face’.

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top