Youth justice reforms needed to support neurodivergent and SEND children, says University-backed report
Reforms to the youth justice system are needed to better support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and neurodivergence, according to a new University-backed report.
Dr Anne-Marie Day, lecturer in Criminology at Manchester Metropolitan University, was invited to join an expert working group led by The Sieff Foundation to consider what reforms would enable these children to avoid contact with the justice system, and what would help those who enter the system to lead well-functioning, fulfilled and productive lives as adults.
Mandatory training for professionals, mandatory screenings for children at police stations prior to interviews and achievable reforms that would save the government £72m are some of the recommendations put forward in the report co-written by Dr Day.
Almost all children in the criminal justice system have SEND or neurodivergence which can create challenges in communication and social interaction making them more susceptible to school exclusion and being involved in criminal behaviour.
Dr Day organised a parliamentary event at the House of Commons to launch the new report Justice for children with SEND & neurodivergence, funded by The Sieff Foundation.
The working group presented findings and recommendations to key policymakers, leading members of the judiciary and senior ministers from the youth justice sector including Sir Nic Dakin, Youth Justice Minister.
Dr Day, said: “Neurodivergent children and children with SEND are grossly over-represented in the youth justice population. We need urgent action to meet their needs across the justice system, and this report makes pragmatic, costed recommendations that could be implemented very quickly. We call on the Government to act.”
The report is based on an independent review into how the current system can fail to prevent children with SEND and neurodivergence from unnecessarily entering the justice system, how they are dealt with once in the system, what happens when they leave, and how this can be addressed in a cost-effective way.
The report highlighted how the youth justice system and many professionals working within it are ‘ill-equipped’ to deal with this group of children.
Recommendations were made for mandatory training in SEND and neurodivergence for teachers, police, and legal representatives working in the youth justice system.
The report calls for mandatory screening of child suspects for SEND and neurodivergence at police stations, and where identified as having SEND or neurodivergence intermediaries should be present during police interviews.
The report also included a cost-benefit analysis which recommended a set of practical and effective reforms that could be implemented without legislation costing £16.3m per year. This could produce £191m economic benefits per year, of which £72m would be direct savings to the government.
The working group will continue to work with key policymakers and practitioners to look at implementing some of the recommendations into future government legislation.
The full report Justice for children with SEND & neurodivergence is available to read here.
