The View: Reflections and Updates from AYJ CEO Jess Mullen

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.

As we settle into 2025, I’ve been reflecting on what’s been an impactful start to the year. Here are some of the key highlights from the first quarter of 2025.

Members meeting with Minister Sir Nic Dakin

In February, we held our first in-person members’ meeting of the year with the Youth Justice Minister, Sir Nic Dakin. With a new government in place, this was an opportunity for members to quiz the Minister on his priorities. Almost half of our membership were in attendance and it was wonderful to see everyone making connections and catching up. Thank you to all who attended and offered your time and expertise. The discussions were thoughtful and constructive and excellently demonstrated the wide range of knowledge and expertise from across our membership.

Welcoming new members

We’re only a few months into the year but we are proud to welcome Spark2Life, TiPP, Maslaha, AFRUCA, and Voyage Youth to our membership. Each organisation brings a distinct strength to the table.

• Spark2Life bring a therapeutic, equity-driven approach to supporting young people at risk of offending.

• TiPP champion the role of participatory arts in the justice system, fostering creativity, confidence and change.

• AFRUCA offer vital, culturally sensitive safeguarding expertise within Black and other racially minoritised communities.

• Maslaha challenge systemic inequalities affecting Muslim communities across sectors, including justice.

• Voyage Youth empower young Black Londoners to thrive and lead change.

• We’re thrilled to have them on board, strengthening our collective voice and vision.

… and a new member of the AYJ team

Okala Elesia has also joined as our Communications and Engagement Manager and has already enhanced how we communicate and connect with members.

Speaking out against the use of PAVA spray in Young Offender Institutions

I was utterly dismayed by the government’s decision, in April, to allow the use of PAVA spray in Youth Offender Institutions (YOIs). Far from making establishments safer the threat and actual use of PAVA spray will cause physical and psychological harm to children and erode the positive relationships that are essential to ensure they are safeguarded and supported. I was proud therefore that the AYJ was able to publish a statement signed by 37 organisations and individuals outlining our grave concerns about this decision. This big news story was covered by The Guardian, The Mirror, Children and Young People Now,  Community Care and The Canary.

Progress and barriers towards racial justice

At our member’s meeting Minister Dakin announced the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) plans to develop a much-needed plan to tackle race disparity and subsequently I was invited to a Ministerial roundtable meeting on this. We did our best to ensure critical 'by and for' organisations were also at the table and able to contribute.

Key issues raised included the need to address disparities in remand and diversion, audit joint enterprise convictions leading to youth custody, and ensure procedural justice regarding the use of force and adjudication. There was also discussion of issues in education and other ‘upstream’ areas and how the MoJ might hold youth justice services and other departments to account.

I emphasised the importance of MoJ accountability and sought clarity on their desired outcomes, advocating for equity of outcome, which may necessitate differential treatment. This was a robust discussion taking place in the context of emergency legislation introduced to block the Sentencing Council's bias-addressing guidelines and the then-pending (now approved) rollout of PAVA spray in YOIs. While the Minister reiterated his personal commitment to tackling racial disparities, he didn't fully alleviate attendees' concerns about PAVA or the sentencing guidelines.

Engagement with this work through roundtables such as this serves an obvious function allowing us to have important conversations and try to steer the direction of policy. At the same time, as the CEO of the AYJ, I believe our role must remain both collaborative and critically vigilant—maintaining pressure for genuine progress rather than accepting symbolic gestures. Since the decision on PAVA spray, in addition to the statement, we coordinated and published, I have written to the minister highlighting how this undermines any work to tackle race disparity and the sectors confidence in the stated intentions around this.

Drawing on our members expertise to drive policy change

This quarter we held meetings of all of our expert groups - covering our three policy priorities of Custody as a Last Resort, Keeping Children Safe, and Racial Justice. This enabled us to draw on members’ crucial expertise and frontline experience, strengthening our voice and impact.

• The Custody as a Last Resort expert group inputted into our feedback to the Youth Custody Service on their draft Children and Young people’s strategy and we published a position paper summarising this.

• The Keeping Children Safe Expert Group discussed the impacts of the Crime and Policing Bill for children and young people and members shared work they are doing in response.

• Finally, given that we knew that only a limited number of organisations could be invited to the ministerial roundtable on race disparities we met with the Racial Justice Expert Group prior to the ministerial meeting so I was able to draw on their insights in the discussions.

Inquiry into Rehabilitation and Resettlement and Girls in Custody

In January, I also  provided oral testimony to the Justice Committee Inquiry into Rehabilitation and Resettlement, making the case that the best way to meet the needs of children and ensure desistance is to ensure children are never sentenced or remanded to custody in the first place. Where it is unavoidable, custody should still be seen as an absolute last resort and for the shortest appropriate period. I also made the point that work with children to support desistance should focus on long-term healthy development, facilitated through caring professional relationships, using Youth Justice Services in the community as a bedrock for support. You can read more about our full submission, plus watch a video of the session here.

In March we published a response to Susannah Hancock’s  review of girls in custody. I was pleased to see the Government committing to ending YOI placements for girls in response to the review. But that is only the first step: and I’m keen to hear the government’s response to the wider recommendations, particularly around community alternatives which could support custody to truly be a last resort – vital for both girls and boys.

Developing the evidence base on young people in transition to adulthood

In January we published Adultifying Youth Custody as part of work, funded by The Barrow Cadbury Trust on young people in transition in the criminal justice system. The briefing explores how the government’s decision to temporarily raise the age young people transfer from the children’s secure estate to the adult secure estate from 18 to 19 destabilised YOIs, impacting the care offered to both under and over 18s. It calls for the distinct nature of the children’s estate to be protected and a ‘young adult first’ approach to custody for young adults. Thanks to our collaboration with AYJ member, Kinetic Youth,  we were able to speak to over 50 children and young people currently in custody and ground the briefing in their experiences.

Coming up

Next month, we’ll be bringing members together for our AGM and members’ meeting. This will be a chance to reflect on how far we’ve come and look ahead to the work still to do. The event will include reflections from a panel of voices across the sector on Reimagining Youth Justice: How far have we come for children and young people?  We’ll also invite members to discuss what challenges are emerging, and what you’d like to see from the AYJ as we continue building our collective voice and develop our next strategy. I hope as many of you as possible can join us for that!

Thank you for your continued support and commitment — I’m really looking forward to everything we can achieve together in the months ahead.