ABOUT THE AYJ
OUR VISION
A society that prioritises healing and support over criminalisation, where every child has the opportunity to thrive.
OUR MISSION
We mobilise the knowledge and expertise of our members, and the children and young people they work with, and connect with others to champion a rights based, trauma informed response rooted in systemic equity for all children in conflict with the law.
OUR PURPOSE
To transform soicety’s response to children in, or at risk of contact with, the youth justice by recognising such contact as a symtom of unmet need and systemic failure, ensuring a child centred appraoch where mistakes are met with support.
Our strength this built on three cornerstones:
The knowledge and expertise of our members
The voices of children and young people
Evidence from research and good practice
We acheive our goals by:
Shaping systems and narratives.
Mobilising our membership so we are greater than the sum of its parts.
Amplifying the voices of and shift power to those most impacted by the youth justice system and expose systemic and racial injustice.
Collaborating with others who share our aspirations.
So that:
Narratives, legislation, policy and practice recognise and tackle the systemic issues that drive children into the justice system and support children to move beyond it as early as possible.
Members are able to speak with a stronger, collective voice and their knowledge and expertise is recognised.
Systemic injustice and race inequity in the youth justice system is exposed and solutions to it better understood and implemented.
The voices of children and young people are centred.
The Alliance is strengthened and our impact deepened by links with and across organisations and networks working on youth justice and related issues.
To achieve:
Children are kept safe from the youth justice system through early prevention and diversion.
Racial justice across the youth justice system.
Custody is only ever used as a last resort.
Our values
We put our values into practice in all that we do at the AYJ, providing the foundations for our relationships with children and young people, our members, partner organisations and all those we engage with. Across all of our work we strive to be:
COLLABORATIVE
As an alliance, we believe that our collective influence is far greater than the sum of its parts. Our network is underpinned by a collaborative approach and aims to develop new partnerships to further our objectives.
CHILD-CENTRED
We amplify the views of children and centre their interests, rights and wellbeing. Rather than promoting a particular service or intervention, we press for change in the best interests of children.
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION
We work to ensure that equality and anti-discrimination informs all thinking about youth justice and our own work as an alliance. We recognise the impact of discrimination and stand up against the oppressive structures, attitudes and actions that create disadvantage in society.
CREDIBLE
Our work is informed by robust research, data and analysis. We work with our networks to develop the evidence-base to inform long-term solutions.
INDEPENDENT
We believe in the importance of speaking truth to power and holding the government to account. We do not accept government funding or deliver government-commissioned work.
TENACIOUS
Strongly committed to our principles, we have courage in advocating for change and we don’t give up.