Youth Offending comes under Assembly Scrutiny
Youth Offenders from across South Wales will today (Tuesday, August 11) receive a visit from National Assembly Members.
The Assembly’s Communities and Culture Committee is currently carrying out a Youth Justice Inquiry, looking specifically at the experiences of Welsh children within prisons and how effective support services are in ensuring that re-offending is minimised.
Plaid’s Social Justice Spokesman Dr. Dai Lloyd AM sits on the Communities and Culture Committee, members of which will today visit Parc Prison, Bridgend as part of their continuing investigation.
Dr. Lloyd stated:
“This inquiry is important on a number of fronts. The committee is scrutinising the delivery of the Welsh Assembly Government’s policies in relation to children and young people in the secure estate.
“It is important that these different cross-border agencies work effectively to try and ensure that when the young offender leaves prison or a secure unit that they are prepared to live a life free of crime.
“We are looking to identify areas where there are particular problems, for example whereby some support services such as Health and Education are devolved to the National Assembly while the powers on youth justice itself remain in Westminster. Many Welsh youth offenders of course reside in English prisons and this has the potential to further complicate matters.”
Dr. Lloyd added:
“The One Wales Agreement has set out to consider the evidence for the devolution of the criminal justice system, and the committee is looking at the youth justice element as part of this review.
“The Committee is also reviewing the use of custody and exploring alternative measures to detention for children in conflict with the law.
“What we want to ensure is that young offenders are not simply locked up for the sake of it, but that they leave prison or a secure unit having received the support from various agencies.
“At the completion of our inquiry we will be looking to make recommendations to the Welsh Assembly Government and others, possibly the UK Government, as necessary.
“What we need to ensure is that we develop a youth justice system in Wales which serves the people of Wales, taking best practice from across the world, making our system fit for the 21st century.”
