General Article UK youth justice system risks breaching children’s rights, says UNICEF UK

Topic Selected: Human Rights Book Volume: 412

UNICEF UK raises serious concerns over children’s human rights within the UK youth justice system.

A new report from UNICEF UK finds that the UK youth justice system is failing children and risks breaching their human rights. Key areas for concern identified within the report include the over representation of children from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds within the youth justice system, unsatisfactory conditions within youth detention, the widetspread use of in-humane practices such as solitary confinement, tasers, and spit-hoods, and the low ages of criminal responsibility across all four UK nations.

The report finds:

  • In the year ending March 2019, in England and Wales, Black children were over 4 times more likely to be arrested than white children.1
  • Data gathered from 29 police forces reveals that 51% of children who had tasers used on them in England were from a BAME background. 2
  • In the year ending March 2019, in England and Wales, the proportion of Black c...

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