Yesterday, the London Evening Standard concluded its three-part feature on the failures of the youth justice system to stop reoffending. (You would be forgiven for missing at least 66.6% of this, hidden at page 22, a destination for the longer commuters.) For me, it sprung up familiar arguments from at least four years ago when I started my legal career at University.
The data is still the same; 70% of those in Young Offenders Institutions are reoffending, and (violent) restraint used on inmates is up 2% at around 25% seeing this as a regular occurrence. In essence, we are still employing the same shock tactics to get people to care, as we were in 2009. It’s not really working, is it? All this in the face of legal aid cuts that have seen barristers protesting in court, and a reform to both education and young offenders prisons that have those working with young people up in arms; the justice system seems to be crumbling around us.
The format of this three piece saga was similar to that of a charity advertisement: initial shock (at rates of reoffending and cuts), an applied piece (on the failings of the probation service), and finally, a heart-warming story (of an ex-inmate that created his own charity to help people like him). Leaving people with a sense that despite the problems, the world is doing just fine. Deceiving, but we all love a happy ending; it makes watching those adverts bearable.
There are definitely three different angles contributing to what is really going on with young offenders, and not all of them are in the public eye, overshadowed by Crimea and immigration. Perhaps sometimes we should look closer to home.
- Legal aid cuts
- Introduction of secure colleges
- Reform of the education system
Legal aid cuts are up there in the public’s consciousness but it is difficult to campaign against them when competing companies include the NHS. Paying our taxes for healthcare is easily justifiable, we’ve all been sick. Paying our taxes to pay barristers seems less so, we have an arrogant immunity to assume we, or someone we love, will not end up in front of a judge.
The problem is that when you see someone going to court, you assume they must have done something wrong. Innocent until proven guilty is a pretty hard maxim to apply when “he looks like a pedo”.
Imagine if the accused was your son, your daughter, wrongly accused or maybe forced under duress. How panicked would you feel if you realised you couldn’t afford anyone to represent them? Their life would be slipping away from them amidst legalese and paperwork, with you completely unable to stop it. Soon, that may be the reality for many youngsters.
Solicitors and barristers are different. As a rule, a solicitor will earn more than the barrister in the same field. A solicitor is employed, a barrister is self-employed; one case, one fee. It is hard to get the idea of the rich kid lawyers out of the public mind-set, especially with the American “all-in-one” attorney confusing everyone as to the realities of a court room.
A pupil criminal barrister (the lowest end) will earn between £16,000 and £20,000 a year on average. Someone with perhaps five or six years call could be earning up to £50,000 before tax and fees. Compared to barristers working on the commercial circuit, who can see up to £190,000 after five years, there’s a huge income drop. These are old figures and have not taken into account the most recent cuts however the relatives are still similar. It seems slightly out of balance that increasing corporate power pays more than the restriction of a person’s liberty might. If legal aid fees are cut much more, barristers will be losing money by taking on cases, and it will be near impossible to get a QC anywhere near a courtroom for any publically funded work. Justice goes out of the window in favour of cheap barristers, and quick fees.
The second point I have already alluded to in previous blog posts: the introduction of secure colleges. As I said before, I’m all for reforming youth justice. I think that in all of England’s criminal legislation and especially in its penal institutions, young offenders are neglected. Yet it seems to me that Clegg’s search for a remedy to metaphorical “colleges of crime” has in simple terms, amounted to the creation of a literal college of crime. Even boarding schools for the elite have the reputation of creating vagabonds as capable as the average heroin addict, and they pay half the price for the luxury. Putting iron bars on an existing, dubious, coping mechanism for the idiosyncrasies of childhood, is not a solution.
My final, and perhaps not so obvious point, is that the reform (or relapse) of education generally, will impact youngsters at a crucial point in their lives. If we are totally honest with ourselves, few of us enjoyed school, especially into our teens. Hormones everywhere, when our social lives are the most important thing that has happened on this earth so far, suddenly we have to make decisions that influence the rest of our lives. An inconceivable future.
Keeping students in school, motivated, and interested in learning is a feat that requires as much help as possible. Restricting subjects to the minimum and removing any alternative engagement for those that do not perhaps thrive in a traditional school of lectures and exams is a fatal move.
With competition for jobs increasing, we have a duty to set the foundations for our children’s lives. There’s a genuine risk that, with no job prospects or direction in life, young people can fall in with wrong crowds, and make bad decisions (not unlike us all) that could see them facing time in prisons that don’t work. Suddenly, they’re consumed by the justice system’s never ending spiral into ruin.
I applaud any building of awareness in the press about issues involving youth justice. It’s gone untouched for too long. However, I think a lot more has to be done to improve the understanding of the public about these problems in order to make them relatable and to spark a change that will actually benefit the next generation, not brand them and bin them.
I think (with an educated guess)... 