15 Asks for the Executive - Focus on Implementation of the Youth Justice Review

In this series of articles we take each 'ask' and explore them in greater details.

This week we are focusing on number 9 "progress the implementation of the recommendations of the Youth Justice Review" with an article written by Julia Kenny, Policy and Research Co-ordinator at NIACRO.

Julia Kenny, Policy and Research Co-ordinator, NIACRO

Progress the implementation of the recommendations of the Youth Justice Review

In particular the Executive should formally cease the imprisoning of under 18s in Hydebank Wood and support the opportunity for people to apply to have offences removed from their criminal records if they occurred under the age of 18.

Trapping young people in the Criminal Justice System seriously impacts on their life chances and increases their likelihood of reoffending. The Review of the Youth Justice System in Northern Ireland in 2011 recognised this and made 31 recommendations to improve both the System and wider arrangements for children. However, though progress is to be welcomed in some areas, more than three years on there are still key changes yet to be implemented.

Both the Youth Justice Review and the Review of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, also published in 2011, clearly stated that the practice of imprisoning under 18s in Hydebank Wood Young Offenders’ Centre should end. In light of this, administrative arrangements were put in place and children have not been held in the young adult custodial centre since 2012. However, this policy needs to be formalised to protect the practice. In November 2014, the Minister for Justice pressed pause on the introduction of this proposed legislation, citing the need to further examine some of the issues. While it is of course important that any potential problems are addressed and that the legislation is robust, any outstanding issues must be resolved as soon as possible – and certainly before the end of this mandate – to absolutely rule-out a return to the scandal of imprisoning children in adult prisons.

The Youth Justice Review also highlighted the “perverse” nature of the criminal records regime for young people in Northern Ireland. While all the evidence shows that accessing sustainable education, employment or training is critical to the effective resettlement of people who have offended and greatly reduces the risk of reoffending, “the current system of informing potential employers of an offender’s criminal history acts as the most potent barrier to accessing such employment”. In NIACRO, we’re all about reducing crime and its impact on people and communities. To reduce crime, we need to reduce the barriers to stable lifestyles and, ultimately, desistance: we have to stop trapping people in a cycle of offending behaviour.

It was for this reason the Review recommended that young people who have offended should be allowed to apply for “a clean slate” (Recommendation 21). We want to see this recommendation implemented and expanded to allow people of all ages to be able to apply to have their criminal record reviewed and, if appropriate in the context, for minor offences from their childhood to be taken Off The Record completely.

Make Minor Youth Convictions Off The Record

Our Off The Record campaign highlights the lasting impact of minor childhood convictions. With the age of criminal responsibility currently just 10 years old (despite a Youth Justice Review recommendation that it should be raised), thousands of children in Northern Ireland are caught up in the Justice System every year, often without realising the long term implications for their careers and aspirations, as our short film shows. Former Police and Crime Commissioner candidates Bob Ashford and Simon Weston OBE found out that convictions they received as children prevented them from running for office decades later, and although that may seem like an extreme example, our experience has shown that there is a huge number of young people and adults still being punished for minor offences that happened when they were just children. The vast majority pose no risk and haven’t reoffended since – so why keep punishing them?

New filtering arrangements were introduced in April 2014, changing the period of time until a conviction becomes ‘spent’, i.e. is no longer disclosed on basic employment checks. More recently, following our engagements on this issue the Minister indicated that further changes would be introduced and we welcome the Minister’s recognition of the impact of childhood convictions, including the proposal to include an automatic referral to the filtering process for cases where offences were committed under the age of 18. This is an encouraging sign that the Minister and his Department have listened not only to us, but also to the support expressed by the sector and the general public.

However, it’s important to recognise that the impact of minor convictions goes beyond disclosing criminal record information to employers: it can impact on a person’s ability to travel or even get home or car insurance. Filtering will only make a conviction ‘spent’: it will not take it Off The Record entirely and it may still be disclosed on enhanced employment checks, as well as visa and insurance applications. The list of 1,190 specified offences which filtering does not apply to also prohibits many of the thousands of young people with convictions or cautions from benefiting from this process – including those whose offences could be considered ‘minor’. It may also preclude those with more than one childhood conviction.

We Need Your Help

We need the Minister, Department and Committee for Justice to understand why the current system doesn’t work and use the opportunity of the Justice Bill, currently being considered by the Committee, to change people’s lives and stop punishing people for childhood mistakes. There is still time in this mandate to make this real.

To help make it happen, we need you to:

1. Write to your MLA to ask them to support Off The Record;
2. Show your support on Twitter and Facebook using #OffTheRecord; and
3. Share the campaign film and keep the conversation going.

In addition, if you have a childhood conviction which could be considered as minor and would be willing to share your story with NIACRO to help this campaign, please contact Julia on 028 9032 0157 or [email protected]

Watch the Off The Record short film here

More information about Off The Record is available here