Child First? Examining children’s perspectives of their ‘effective’ collaboration in youth justice decision-making

Summary:

This report, published in December 2024, provides details of a Child First research project undertaken to gain a greater understanding of what children supervised by youth justice services and held in custody think about their collaboration in youth justice decision-making processes. Participation and engagement of children in youth justice processes and practise is vital, particularly since the Youth Justice Board’s adoption of Child First as the guiding principle for youth justice. This research project focuses on the third tenet of Child First, ‘collaboration with children’.

It was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and led by researchers at Loughborough and Aberystwyth Universities and emphasises the need to move beyond adult-centric policies and practices to ensure that justice-involved children are “listened to, and their views respected”. The study explored children’s collaboration in decisions affecting them at all stages of the youth justice system and focused on four interconnected research questions:

1. Collaboration understandings: How do children perceive and understand their collaboration in the decision-making processes that underpin responses to their offending across the Youth Justice System?

2. Collaboration objectives: What do children believe should be the objectives of their collaboration in decision-making processes? Do these perceived objectives/benefits differ to those held by adult professionals – if so, how and why?

3. Effectiveness: How do children perceive and experience ‘effective’ collaboration practice, such as the effectiveness of processes and how collaboration outcomes should be measured?

4. Practice development: What is the extent and nature of children’s ‘Child First’ (e.g., child-centric, collaborative, promotional/positive, diversionary) youth justice experiences (e.g., of decision-making processes) and how could these be improved?