Children and young people remanded in custody
Jenny Coles, Chair of the ADCS Families, Communities and Young People Policy Committee, said:
“Over the last decade there has been a fall in the number of children remanded in custody, but this has risen recently. This could, in part, be due to rising knife crime as the report states that nearly half of all children are remanded for violence against another person so in such situations they may also be remanded for their own safety or if they can’t stay with family members. The report clearly illustrates that children’s services staff can be hampered by tight timescales and the availability of placements of all types, the demand for specialist placements is particularly high. That said, it is not desirable for children and young people to be remanded to custody for any period of time, particularly where they receive a community sentence and ADCS has been involved in the development of a national agreement, led by the Home Office, to minimise the time children spend in police cells. Children and young people who are in conflict with the law are vulnerable, many have been exposed to repeated and extended trauma, such as bereavement, family breakdown or abuse. They should be treated as children first and foremost, offenders second. Custodial sentences can retraumatise children and young people and should only be used as a last resort.”
ENDS
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