UNITED KINGDOM: Inquiry on Girls: From courts to custody

Summary: This briefing paper, the second in a series, focuses on the provision for and treatment of girls in the penal system.

 The All Party Parliamentary Group on Women in the Penal System (APPG) was set up in July 2009 and is chaired by Baroness Corston, author of the Corston Report: A review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the penal system (Home Office, 2007). In October 2011, the APPG launched a year-long inquiry on girls. The aims of the inquiry were:

• to investigate the decisions that route girls into or out of the penal system
• to look at provision for and the treatment of girls in the penal system
• to make recommendations for reform across the social and penal systems regarding the treatment of girls.

The APPG received written evidence from voluntary and statutory agencies, local authority children’s services, youth offending teams and others who worked with girls. It conducted a series of oral hearings in the House of Lords and witnesses included the Chair of the YJB, the Chair of the Magistrates’ Association and the Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England. Girls and young women gave evidence, based on their personal experiences of the penal system.

This briefing paper is the second in a series of papers outlining the findings of the inquiry. It focuses on provision for and treatment of girls in the penal system.

Further Information:

• CRIN page on Child-Friendly Justice
• UNITED KINGDOM: Ministers ditch plans to classify 17-year-olds in custody as 'children' (July 2012)
• UNITED KINGDOM: A Review of the Youth Justice System in Northern Ireland (May 2012)
• UNITED KINGDOM: Leveson inquiry urged to consider portrayal of young people in the media (February 2012)
• UNITED KINGDOM: Youth justice reforms must go 'further and deeper' (February 2012)