Children and the justice system

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• Introduction
• Conclusions

Introduction

6.1. The first Safeguarding Children report included a chapter on young people who commit offences. Children also experience the justice system in various other ways: in family proceedings and as victims of and witnesses to crimes. This chapter explores children's experiences and the safeguarding arrangements in place in those settings as well as assessing progress with the safeguarding of children and young people who commit offences. The scope of this chapter does not include the safeguarding work with children and young people carried out by the police.

6.2. There are many different agencies and organisations involved in the justice system. The first Safeguarding Children report highlighted that further work on aspects of the justice system was necessary, and this chapter draws on inspection work in some of the agencies concerned. However, the picture this chapter provides of how well children are safeguarded is only partial. Inspection arrangements have not covered every aspect of the justice system since there are parts of it that have been outside the remit of inspectorates and will remain so. There is a particular gap in respect of the higher courts, since it is only very recently that a unified courts service has been set up, with associated unified inspection arrangements for the administration of HM Courts Service.

6.3. Also, while systems exist or are being developed for inter-agency collaboration within different parts of the justice system, there have been limited mechanisms for sharing information and good practice on safeguarding between the criminal and the family justice systems. New arrangements in the courts service therefore provide an opportunity to develop a more consistent approach to the safeguarding of children and young people.

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Conclusions

6.41. This review found that the justice system agencies covered in the inspection work for the first Safeguarding Children report were found to be giving greater priority to safeguarding. For example, in 2002, youth offending teams were found to be detached from other services and not giving sufficient attention to the wider safeguarding and protection needs of children and young people who commit offences. They are now giving much greater recognition to safeguarding issues. Other agencies, including CAFCASS, the courts and the Crown Prosecution Service, have elements of good safeguarding policy and practice. In addition, child abuse and domestic violence cases involving children as victims or witnesses are generally well handled and consideration is given to the safeguarding needs of these children.

6.42. The creation of a unified courts service, unified inspection arrangements and Local Family Justice Boards provides an opportunity to improve still further the priority given to safeguarding children. Key areas for improvement include:

• determining what safeguarding children means in the context of the justice system;
• bringing together existing elements of safeguarding policy and practice into overarching strategies in the Crown Prosecution Service, CAFCASS and the courts;
• involving children more widely in family proceedings so that they have a greater say in the formal arrangements that will significantly affect their lives;
• ensuring that early opportunities that are appropriate to the individual children concerned are taken to protect and support all children who are victims or witnesses; and
• clarifying roles and responsibilities between youth offending teams and other agencies at key points, including when a young person has been in police custody, has been remanded into the care of the council or has been remanded in custody to a secure setting.

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