Government statistics show that 80% of children cautioned or sentenced within the Youth Justice System have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. 

Recently, the Centre for Young Lives’ Visiting Fellow, Professor Hannah Smithson, gave oral evidence to the Michael Sieff Foundation Working Group on SEND, Neurodivergence and Youth Justice. 

The working group has been set up to produce a report and influence policy on dealing with children with SEND and neurodivergence in the Youth Justice System and to ensure that children and young adults are constructively and fully engaged in the process. 

Members of the group include, academics, barristers, KCs, representatives from the House of Lords, including Lord Carlisle, Lord Ponsonby, and Sir Robert Buckland MP, the former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.  

During her evidence sessions, Hannah was able to draw on her extensive experience of research with justice-involved children, including highlighting the relationship between exposure to adverse childhood experiences and impaired neurodevelopment, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on services and resources for justice-involved children with SEND and neurodiversity, and how resources were withdrawn at a time when they were most needed. 

The system continues to deal with the longer-term impact of COVID, with increased waiting times for services, delays to court cases, and custodial establishments struggling to provide pre-COVID levels of service all impacting on children with SEND and neurodiversity.         

The Centre for Young Lives has consistently advocated for improved interventions for children with high levels of need in the Youth Justice System. In our 2021 report published at the end of our Commission on Young Lives work developing a national plan to protect teenagers from harm, “Hidden in Plain Sight”, we identified how school exclusions and poor alternative provision can lead to a failure in the support and resources children with SEND and neurodiversity need and how for too many children, the point at which they enter the criminal justice system is a moment when interventions have come too late or have failed.

We are really pleased to see the Michael Sieff Foundation focusing on this issue, and we are looking forward to supporting them in their endeavours for an improved service for children with high levels of need.