The Pains and Gains of COVID-19 - Challenges to Child First Justice in the Pandemic

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Criminology
• Child Psychology

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to vulnerable populations, including justice-involved children.
• The Youth Justice System of England and Wales operates under the 'Child First' principle, emphasizing communication, engagement, and risk mitigation.
• Existing vulnerabilities of justice-involved children were potentially exacerbated by pandemic-related policy shifts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the impact of COVID-19 pandemic policies on justice-involved children in England and Wales.
• To evaluate how policy changes affected communication, engagement, and risks of contagion and criminalization.
• To assess whether pandemic-era changes upheld or undermined the 'Child First' principle and children's rights.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of youth justice policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Examination of reported outcomes for justice-involved children across court, community, and custody settings.
• Assessment of the alignment of policy changes with the 'Child First' guiding principle.

Main Results:

• Policy innovations facilitated communication and engagement for some children, aligning with 'Child First' tenets.
• Conversely, other policy changes led to significant disadvantages, increasing criminalization, disengagement, and anxiety.
• The negative impacts ('pains') disproportionately affected vulnerable justice-involved children, eroding their rights.

Conclusions:

• Pandemic-related youth justice policies created a dual impact, with both positive and negative consequences for justice-involved children.
• The 'pains' experienced by these children, including increased criminalization and anxiety, highlight a failure to fully protect their rights.
• Urgent review and potential reform of youth justice policies are needed to ensure the 'Child First' principle is consistently applied, especially during crises.