Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I am delighted to support this amendment. It was a great privilege to be asked by the noble Lord, Lord Judd, to add my name to it. A number of arguments have been advanced about amending Clause 9 of Part 2 of the Bill, which deals with the purpose of sentencing. The purpose of the amendment is to probe in greater detail the Government’s intentions. The Minister has stolen my thunder, because my last question to him was going to be, ““Is there anything in the pipeline that will address the issue of age and suggest remedies?””. He has already answered that, but a number of issues need to be highlighted. It is not my intention to repeat the arguments that have been put forward. In fact, in debate after debate there is a general consensus about the purpose of sentencing and so on, and I do not need to repeat that. I can well understand why the Government wish to promote the principal aim of the youth justice system when dealing with offenders up to the age of 18. The questions that I am always asking is, ““Do we have the right approach? Should it be restricted to 18? Would the raising of the age from 18 to 21—which the noble Lord rightly put in the amendment for detention centres—actually help to reduce offending and reoffending rates?””. I have no doubt whatever that in the final analysis that is probably the reason that they would do so. I sat as a magistrate in Sussex—the county that the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, comes from—for a very long time. When you are sitting in the court, it is very difficult to distinguish particularly in relation to the age factor and sentencing. I say that because some youngsters aged 12, 13 or 14 are much more mature than some people aged 21. Is that factor important? Or should you not effectively be looking at what is most appropriate for the individual before you? That is fundamental to the amendment. In various amendments to Clause 9, a number of noble Lords tried to establish a balance; but the balance that we are lacking at the moment is effectively the age factor. I am not surprised, nor is the chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, that issues of youth justice continue to be very high profile, and we are increasingly focusing on this issue in the debates in your Lordships’ House. I am also aware that there is an ongoing 10-year plan to deliver the principles that have been set out in the Youth Justice Board strategy for the secure estate for children and young people. There are obvious benefits, which include—this is the suggestion that the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, has spoken about previously—a single-site population of under-18s, small, flexible units, young people being located close to their home community and safe environments that better meet the needs of young people. It is equally important that such provision should apply to people who are under 21 years of age; but until the 10-year plan comes into force, we need to explore how best to provide suitable accommodation and premises where appropriate care and support are provided by the appropriate agencies. This requires amendment to the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, Section 27(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 and Section 43(2) of the Prisons Act 1952. We further propose revisiting Section 106 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. To avoid further technicality, we have identified suitable words to substitute that section and other relevant sections in previous legislation. I have not set out to criticise the work of the Youth Justice Board. In previous debates, I have always complimented the considerable strides we have made since the establishment of the YJB. If its success is to be carried forward, if the intervention is to reduce reoffending—and offending—then it is right that we should be able to fish out the Government’s intention. I need to exercise some care as one or two issues cause me concern. There are some limitations, and that is why I say this should be probed deeply. First, should we limit the provision of accommodation by local authorities for those up to 21 years old? If that is the question, then we need to talk about capacity, as well as the differing needs of the sentence group, which can vary from between 10 and 21. Secondly, we need to take into account that we have in secure accommodation the most damaged children and their needs ought to be carefully examined. Any change in the age range would need to be carefully planned and properly resourced. It may also require parallel arrangements for the management of those young people in the community and in the court, for example where the respective roles of youth offending teams and probation need to change. For these reasons, it would be helpful to have some indication of not only the Government’s thinking but also what they have in mind. Then we will likely see some results in terms of the age factors, the special needs they have, and how we could adequately meet that.