Policy Hub
A new report published by the Prison Reform Trust on 3 September 2009 identifies a number of successful international approaches to reducing child and youth imprisonment as well as cutting crime.
The report observes that England and Wales have one of the highest child custody populations in the western world. In addition, the number of children sentenced to custody more than tripled between 1991 and 2006.
The report examines policies and programmes in countries with effective youth justice systems and finds that radical approaches to reducing the number of teenagers in custody can and do work. It also looks at how policy makers in Canada and the state of New York have responded to costly and damaging levels of youths in custody by completely rethinking their approach to dealing with youth crime.
In New York, the total number of children in custody declined by 27% between 2000 and 2006 and the state has now closed four juvenile jails. In Canada, the government introduced new legislation in 2002 to reduce the number of children and young people in prison, enshrining the principle of custody as a last resort. As a consequence, the rate of admission to secure custody has fallen by a third from 2003/4 to 2007/8 and youth crime has declined since 2003.
Reducing child imprisonment in England and Wales: lessons from abroad (PDF)