La Strada Documentation Center

Punishing Disadvantage. A Profile of Children in Custody

Document number
2505
Date
2010
Title
Punishing Disadvantage. A Profile of Children in Custody
Author/publisher
Jessica Jacobson, Bhardwa Bina, Hunter Gillian, Hough Mike
Availability
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Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Best Interests Principle, Child Victims of Trafficking, Separated Migrant Children, Unaccompanied minors, Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Child protection systems,
Summary
The most disturbing finding from this study has been the development since my research of a 'fast track' into custody for breach - as this study shows, breach accounted for around one fifth of the primary offences for which children in this sample were sentenced to custody, with breach offences making up around three fifths of the non-violent, less serious offences for which children received custodial sentences in the latter half of 2008. Throughout the 1980s, I and others argued there were inherent dangers of net-widening within the expansion of non-custodial sentences and early intervention. This study illustrates that the tenor of our concern has come to pass, with children sentenced to custody for breaching anti-social behaviour orders and, even more alarmingly, imprisoned on remand where failure to engage with the youth offending service is used as a rationale for refusing bail.
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