Ensuring custody as a last resort
The AYJ is working alongside its members and children and young people, aiming to ensure that custody is used as a last resort for children in England and Wales, and for the shortest appropriate period of time.
What’s the problem?
The children’s secure estate is in crisis, characterised by incredibly volatile establishments and failing regimes, where children have very limited time out of cell and very poor access to education and purposeful activity. Longstanding failures to meet children’s needs and uphold their rights have been exacerbated by the pandemic and by the government response to the adult prison capacity crisis, making it more obvious than ever that children must be kept out of custody wherever possible.
Since reaching a peak in the early 2000s, the number of children in custody has fallen significantly and is currently at a historic low. However, custody continues to be used not solely as a last resort, nor is it only being used for the shortest appropriate period of time, as prescribed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Custody numbers have fallen in line with overall reductions in numbers of children coming into the youth justice system. Without a clear, long-term vision and changes to legislation and practice, the door is wide open for a reversal of this downward trend.
There is no evidence that harsher custodial sentences contribute towards rehabilitation or promoting positive outcomes for children, and there is no evidence that the threat of harsher custodial sentences deters children from offending. Meanwhile, there is abundant evidence that imprisonment is extremely harmful to children and disrupts their healthy long-term development.
What needs to change?
The impressive reduction in the number of children in custody in recent years can lead to a false complacency regarding the need for action, and a misplaced assumption that custody is currently used as a last resort. More awareness is needed among policymakers that this is not the case. While the current population is relatively small for England and Wales, there is so much more that must be done to further reduce the number of children sentenced or remanded to custody.
An ambitious, strategic vision for children is needed, ensuring the children’s estate is no longer sidelined in a system focussed on adults. Primary legislation is one of the most powerful tools with the potential to minimise the use of custody. A review of sentencing legislation with a view to creating a clear framework restricting the use of custody for children in all circumstances would guard against any future rises.
Why now?
With the number of children in custody being at a low, this presents a key opportunity to think radically about keeping children out of the estate. Yet the lack of action and punitive attitudes across government risk wasting this opportunity. Alarm bells are ringing about how an estate already on its knees will be drawn further into deep crisis without care and attention.
Why the AYJ?
The AYJ and our members have proposed new legislative thresholds for sentencing and remanding children to custody, and were successful in securing parts of this in the new remand threshold in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. We are well placed to continue developing this work. AYJ members work within custody and in courts, support the End Child Imprisonment campaign, and we have strong links with the Youth Custody Service and Ministry of Justice.
Read more about our concerns about children in the secure estate here.
Read about how the feedback of our members, Young Advocates alumni, partners and key stakeholders has informed our new strategic approach. This strategy wasn't built in a vacuum; it is the result of deep listening, honest challenge, and a shared commitment to the children and young people we serve.
AYJ welcomes the safeguarding review led by Isabelle Trowler and the Government’s acceptance of all 34 recommendations. Now those commitments must be turned into urgent action: embed specialist safeguarding across the estate, close large YOIs and invest in smaller, community, trauma informed alternatives like Secure Children’s Homes.
AYJ Comment: latest HMIP inspection reports on HMYOI Parc and Feltham show, once again, that youth custody is incapable of guaranteeing children’s rights.
Following recent news coverage regarding the sentencing of children for serious sexual offences, the AYJ has issued a statement addressing the vital balance between public confidence, victim support, and effective youth justice principles.
To ensure consistency across all published materials, this guide sets out clear communication standards for our team. Grounded in our core values, this guide aims to ensure that the language we use is rights based, child centred and challenges systemic inequality. We are sharing this resource in the hope that it proves useful for members own communications.
Read our response to the Government’s youth justice white paper.
AYJ response to the Justice Select Committee inquiry into childrena nd young adults in the secure estate.
The AYJ respond to the tragic death of a child in HMYOI Feltham on 20 April 2026.
The AYJ has responded to a Crown Prosecution Service consultation on its guidance on “gang” related offences and the use of musical expression as evidence. The response summarises views gathered from AYJ members on the use of the term “gang”, racial disproportionality, and the need for separate guidance on musical expression in evidence.
This AYJ comment responds to a series of recent youth justice developments, including the Youth Justice Statistics 2024–25, the IMB’s annual report on HMYOI Feltham, and the Government’s response to the Justice Committee’s youth custody recommendations. It recognises continued reductions in the number of children entering the system and in custody, while raising concerns about unsafe conditions and calling for greater urgency, ambition and transparency in reform.
This AYJ comment responds to the government’s policy statement A Modern Youth Justice System: Foundations Fit for the Future. It welcomes signs of progress while setting out the need for ambitious reform to make custody a genuine last resort, reduce unnecessary remand, and move away from unsafe custodial environments towards child-centred approaches.
This AYJ comment responds to the High Court ruling on the use of PAVA spray in YOIs. It sets out our deep disappointment at the decision and reiterates the urgent need to move away from harmful, punitive responses towards small, therapeutic forms of custody, used only as a last resort.
This AYJ comment piece looks at the Justice Committee’s Ending the cycle of reoffending - part one: rehabilitation in Prisons report. In the short term, we see further accountability on these issues as a welcome first step. In the long term, the best way to meet the needs of children and support desistance is to ensure that no child is sentenced or remanded to custody unless it is an absolute last resort and for the shortest appropriate period.
This AYJ comment piece welcomes the government’s announcement of a dedicated sentencing review for children and calls for the government to take meaningful steps towards meeting children’s distinct needs. This includes ensuring that custody is only ever used as a last resort.
The government’s response to the Hancock Review sets out initial commitments but lacks long-term ambition to ensure the needs of girls in custody are met
In our latest comment, we respond to the inspection of HMYOI Feltham A, where violence remains the highest of any prison, and children face long lock-ups and disrupted education. Despite small improvements at the institution, we warn that these findings reflect a wider crisis in safety across the youth estate.
This blog, in conversation with a youth worker for The Children’s Society (TCS) in Nottinghamshire, examines how TCS helps children and young adults affected by child criminal exploitation.
In our latest comment, we respond to the inspection of HMYOI Feltham A, where violence remains the highest of any prison, and children face long lock-ups and disrupted education. Despite small improvements at the institution, we warn that these findings reflect a wider crisis in safety across the youth estate.
AYJ comment on removal of children from Oasis Restore secure school, highlighting serious safety failings and warning against transfers to unsafe YOIs and STCs, reiterating calls for custody to be a last resort and delivered only in small, local, welfare-based settings with high standards of care and safety.
AYJ comment on urgent notification for Oakhill STC and inspection of HMYOI Werrington, warning of institutional failure across the youth secure estate and calling for STCs and YOIs to be replaced with small, local, Child First environments rooted in care, wellbeing and safety.
In this blog, we speak to Zahbia Yousuf at Maslaha — a grassroots organisation new to AYJ membership. Maslaha work to challenge the root causes of Islamophobia. Zahbia reflects on how the education system fails to meet the needs of racialised young people, the importance of creative, culturally responsive spaces, and why change must be shaped by those most affected.
AYJ comment on HMI Prisons’ thematic report Building trust, calls for the closure of YOIs highlighting Secure Children’s Homes provide the best environment for building relationships that support children in custody’s wellbeing and safety and enable them to fulfil their potential.
The AYJ shares our position on the recent Independent Sentencing Review by David Gauke. We ask that the Government now considers how best to protect children from the harms of imprisonment.
AYJ CEO, Jess Mullen, writes to update our members and partners — reflecting on what we’ve been working on together so far this year and looking ahead to what’s coming up next.
The Alliance for Youth Justice (AYJ), along with 37 other organisations and individuals working in youth justice, have joined forces to condemn the government’s decision to introduce PAVA spray for use against children in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs).
In this blog, Gess Aird, the CEO of Kinetic Youth speaks to the rich history of youth work in the UK and outlines how those methodologies inform the important work Kinetic do with children and young people caught up in the secure estate.
In this blog, Laura Janes, from AYJ member the Youth Practitioners’ Association, asks what it will take to create a well-resourced secure estate that caters to the distinct needs of children and young adults.
The AYJ shares our position after the government recently stated vulnerable girls sentenced to youth custody will no longer be placed in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs).
In this analysis piece, John Drew CBE, AYJ board member and former CEO of the YJB, reflects on the decision to change the age young people transition to the adult estate from 18 to 19.
Our submission to the Justice Select Committee highlights the urgent need to improve conditions in the children’s secure estate, ensure custody is only ever a last resort, and address racial disparities in reoffending rates.