The Magistrates’ Association has welcomed yesterday’s announcement by Justice Secretary Alex Norris of £4.5m in funding for community alternatives to youth custodial remand. This is in addition to the £5m announced in February this year alongside the publication of ‘A Modern Youth Justice System’.
Also announced was a £110m investment to accelerate prison building, to ensure sufficient prison places remain available; a desire to reduce the number of women in prison; and plans to reduce the number of pregnant women and mothers of young children in custody.
Responding to the announcement, David Ford, National Chair of the Magistrates’ Association said:
“As a youth court magistrate, I know that youth magistrates only remand children to custody when there are no other options, so we welcome the government’s plan to develop more available, robust community alternatives to custody for children and young people.
“The Government has set a target of reducing children in custody on remand by 25% by the end of this Parliament and the Magistrates’ Association continues to actively contribute to youth remand reform. We now sit on an Expert Advisory Group for community alternatives to remand, making sure that our members’ voices are heard by the Government.”
