Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I put my name to this important amendment early on, and it was clear that there was a rush to back it. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, has spelt out the basis for it. It deals with children and young people right the way up to the age of 21 and, above all, it states that there should be specific appropriate accommodation for them. In certain cases, that accommodation would certainly have to be restrictive. Most importantly, we are beginning to see a change of mind about what is appropriate when dealing with young people, and not just among those of us who have been following this issue in one way or another as magistrates or members of the judiciary and so on. People are generally beginning to realise how totally ineffectively we deal with young people who have been damaged. As we heard, eight out of 10 of them reoffend within two years. My noble friend Lady Stern’s described the sort of activities that are used to restrain youngsters, which are totally appalling and totally ineffective. It is very worrying that we still do not have a government reaction and that there has been further delay because wider research is apparently needed before the Government can come to any conclusion. Smaller units, relevant to the local community, are being recommended, as my noble friend Lord Ramsbotham emphasised, which seems to fit the pattern of what the Corston report argued for women offenders and which would clearly fit this pattern. It is also noticeable that not just the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights was making those points and the international Centre of Crime and Justice Studies, but also the Local Government Association. It is terrifying that 40 per cent of the boys, but 67 per cent of the girls have serious mental health problems. What are we doing about it? We have heard it all and it has been extremely saddening. I look forward to the Minister's reply.