On 24th October we hosted our Quarterly Members’ Meeting, which featured a presentation from Alan Webster, Head of the Youth Justice Policy Unit at the Ministry of Justice.

In August, two of the Young Advocates attended a session, led by AYJ member the National Appropriate Adult Network (NAAN), to learn about appropriate adults, the training that NAAN provides to its members, and to share their experiences of police custody.

Find out what we’ve been up to in the month of August!

A new policy framework sets out that staff in the children’s secure estate are no longer permitted to use techniques to restrain children which deliberately cause pain.

Find out what we’ve been up to in the month of July!

Over 30 organisations working with & on behalf of children and young adults in criminal justice system have called on Youth Justice Minister Damian Hinds to act over the appalling treatment of children in the secure estate.

Find out what we’ve been up to in the month of June!

This symposium on the policing of children brought together AYJ members and wider stakeholders to identify good and bad practice, discuss failures in policy, legislation, regulation, and guidance, determine solutions and develop AYJ policy positions.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has published its Concluding Observations on the UK, setting out its concerns and recommendations regarding children’s rights

Find out what we’ve been up to in the month of May!

For the first in the AYJ’s podcast series focused around our policy priority of 'Reframing Violence', we speak with Luke Billingham and Adam Elliott to explore how society perceives children involved in serious violence, how and why this perception is shaped, and whether this perception is accurate.

In April 2023 we conducted a membership survey. The results from the survey are informing decisions about the way we run member events and engage with members in the future.

On 25th April 2023, a selection of the Young Advocates attended the first evidence session of the APPG on Children in Police Custody’s Inquiry into Achieving the Rights of Children in Police Custody.

AYJ comment on Urgent Notification process invoked for Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institution

Find out what we’ve been up to in the months of February, March and April!

We’ve published an Evidence Review providing a comprehensive overview of the policy context and existing literature surrounding the experiences of young people in transition in the criminal justice system, as part of our research project funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust.

On Tuesday 19th April, the AYJ hosted our quarterly Members’ Meeting, featuring the Executive Director of the Youth Custody Service Ed Cornmell. Read more about the meeting here.

After the success of their first youth-led report, the Young Advocates have been travelling to different areas of England and Wales to schools and secure facilities to conduct a new round of their own first-hand research.

Comment from AYJ Interim Chief Executive Saqib Deshmukh following the publication of data analysis from the Children’s Commissioner for England on the strip search of children in England and Wales.

Today, the final civil society report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, as part of its examination of the UK, has been published. 97 children’s charities from across England have warned that critical children’s rights issues must be urgently addressed by the UK Government to prevent worsening impacts on the most vulnerable children.