Howard League: Will abolition improve services?
Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform comments on the government’s announcement of quango reform:
“The youth justice board is being abolished as part of the bonfire of the quangos.
“The track record of the YJB has been pretty poor in that it has failed to protect children in custody, reduce the unnecessary use of custody and influence practitioner and public attitudes to children in conflict with the criminal law.
“However, the big question is whether transferring the responsibility for children back into the ministry of justice will improve the treatment of children.
“Instead of expanding the machinery to deal with children in the criminal justice system it would be both cheaper and more effective – providing enhanced public safety – if we raised the age of criminal responsibility to take children out to the criminal justice system altogether.”
