Facts

Arm yourself with the facts! Here are a few things you need to know about youth justice.

Worldwide

  • 4 out of 5 under-18s who offend, only ever commit one offence in their lifetime.
  • According to estimates by UNICEF, there are over 1 million under-18s locked up worldwide. Many of them are locked up with adults, which makes them vulnerable to abuse and violence.
  • Studies by Defence for Children International have shown that children who are detained with adults are: 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted; twice as likely to be beaten and 50% more likely to be attacked with a weapon than children in juvenile facilities.
  • The majority of offences committed by juveniles concern threats to property, eg: theft and fall under the category of minor offences. According to Defence for Children International, only 5-10% of children detained have committed serious offences.

Honduras

  • In Honduras, from 1998 to September 2001, over 2,000 murders of people under the age of 30 were recorded. 574 of them were children aged 12-18. In more than half of the cases, those who had carried out the crime have never been identified.
  • Being a member of a gang in Honduras gives the police the right to arrest you, even when not involved in a crime, if another gang member has been arrested. In some cases, just having a gang tattoo has been enough evidence of complicity for the police.

South Africa

  • In 2004, Human Rights Watch estimated that in South Africa, there were over 2,000 under 18s in custody awaiting trial, including in police cells and maximum security prisons.
  • In South Africa, on leaving prison, most young people aged 12-25 find themselves on the streets. 85% of them re-offend within six months of their release.

UK

  • In 2003 in England and Wales, the overall conviction rate for juveniles (aged 10-17) was 36.9%.
  • Building and running institutions for young offenders is an expensive business. The average annual cost of a prison place in England is more than twelve times the cost of a community service order.
  • In the UK, the number of under-18s in prison has more than doubled since 1993, despite a fall in the number convicted or cautioned for offences.
  • As of February 2007, 11, 872 under 21s were in prison in the UK.
  • The UK puts away more than three times the number of young people in France, 11 times more than Spain, and 100 times more than Finland.