Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, these government changes happen with such frequency, not to mention the personnel involved, that it is difficult to keep up. The Children’s Plan, published in December 2007 by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, acknowledges that the current system is in need of fundamental reform. This is the Government’s own paper. It states that, "““more effective action is called for by children’s services and youth justice agencies to reduce youth crime through a reformed approach to youth justice that has a stronger emphasis on prevention, rehabilitation and action to stop repeat offences by young people””." We want a complete change in youth justice policy so that we do not treat children in the same way as we treat adults; that is, by locking them up to prevent offending and reoffending. We want the recommendations in the Children’s Plan to be followed. We submit that the signal given by our amendment is important—that the principal aim of the youth justice system is to promote the welfare of children and in so doing to have particular regard to the need to prevent offending, including reoffending. In other words, we wish to shift the balance and the emphasis from punishment to rehabilitation—to putting children on the correct road. While we welcome the steps that the Government have taken in their amendment and we are grateful to the Minister for listening, we believe that we have to go further. This is not the end by any means. In due course, I shall move Amendment No. 47 in place of the government amendment.