Agenda Alliance responds to the Youth Justice Reform White Paper

This week (18 May 2026) the Ministry of Justice published ‘Cutting Youth Crime, Changing Young Lives’, a White Paper outlining the Government’s approach to youth justice system reform, and a plan as to its delivery.

As a topic that often has boys as its focus, we were pleased to see an acknowledgment of the distinct needs and experiences of girls within the youth justice system, including the impacts of trauma, abuse, and exploitation. However, far more needs to be done to address these needs – both in custody, and well in advance of a girl ever entering the custodial estate.

Girls, unmet needs and the criminal justice system

Through our Young Women’s Justice Project, we know that girls and young women in contact with the criminal justice system often have extensive experience of abuse and discrimination, and have routinely been failed by the systems and services meant to support them.

• Between three quarters and 90% of girls in the youth justice system may have experienced abuse from a family member or someone they trusted.(1)
• Girls are more likely than boys to self-harm and are more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act.(2)
• Research has found that 74% of girls in youth custody have previously been permanently excluded, compared to 63% of boys.(3)

To act on these issues once a girl ends up in the youth justice system is to act too late. For this reason, we are disappointed to see a lack of focus on prevention and diversion for girls – two options that can give girls a chance to access the right support and turn their lives around long before they enter prison walls. 

With impending reforms to policing governance following the abolition of the Police and Crime Commissioner model in 2028, we need assurances that girls’ needs will not be lost sight of in prevention and diversion initiatives that are commissioned and funded. As a minority in the criminal justice system, it is easy for girls’ needs to be overlooked – with huge repercussions, not just for women and girls, but society at large. Continuity of local approaches that are known to work for girls, such as Bright Future’s work with young women in the North East, must be prioritised when reforms are implemented, or else girls at risk of criminalisation will continue to fall through the gaps.

Links to school exclusions

We know that girls at risk of school exclusions or severe absenteeism (missing 50% or more of school sessions) are at a heightened at risk of exploitation, often leading to contact with the criminal justice system. For this reason, it was positive to see the White Paper reflect the link between children’s exclusion from education and heightened risk of harm, including criminalisation. However, there is a missed opportunity to recognise and tackle the gendered drivers of girls’ exclusions. Whilst the White Paper references tackling sexual harms in relation to boys and young men as perpetrators, there is little mention of the impact of harmful sexual behaviour on girls and young women – despite the links between growing misogyny in schools and girls going missing from the classroom, leading to increased risk of being caught up in the justice system.

Our own analysis demonstrates that since 2017, the number of girls persistently absent from school has increased by a staggering 266%. This is something that requires urgent cross-departmental focus. To prioritise preventing girls’ involvement in the criminal justice system, there needs to be a focus on tackling the criminalisation of vulnerable children further upstream, including by working with the Department for Education to bring down growing rates of girls’ absences and exclusions through ongoing education reform and a gender-informed approach to the roll-out of Young Futures Hubs.

Criminalising mothers and caregivers

We are also concerned at suggestions that criminalising parents and caregivers constitutes part of youth justice reform. We know, from issues such as the disproportionate criminalisation of women for non-payment of council tax or TV licence fees, that it is overwhelmingly women who end up bearing the brunt of such measures. This planned reform seems to be at odds with the Government’s work with the Women’s Justice Board, which aims to drastically reduce the number of women in the criminal justice system.

In the context of school absences, we already see mothers and caregivers penalised through fines and threats of prosecution. Work to reduce the number of girls in the criminal justice system must not mean passing on the penalty to her parent. We urge the Government to drop this proposal as a fundamental misalignment with parallel policy development on women in the criminal justice system.

Girls in custody

Despite constituting a small group, the needs of girls in custody could not be more pressing.

• Black, Brown, and other racially minoritised girls and young women are overrepresented at every stage of the justice process, encountering biases that negatively impact their outcomes.(4)
• Even at its lowest rate over the past 4 years, girls in youth custody self-harmed at over 10 times the rate of boys.(5)
• Nearly two thirds of girls and young women in custody have had experience of the care system.(6)

Whilst the White Paper identifies that Black children, Mixed Heritage children, children from Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller backgrounds and Muslim children are disproportionately criminalised, it is troubling not to see evidence of meaningful or effective action to tackle the racism, discrimination and adultification that drives this for Black, Brown and racially minoritised girls in custody. Racial disproportionality needs more than acknowledgment – it needs action. We need to see dedicated funding for specialist services who support racially minoritised girls. The reforms also need clear targets and robust scrutiny to ensure they are effectively tackling racial disparities within youth justice settings.

Given the overrepresentation of girls and young women with experience of the care system in custody, it was promising to see commitment to a refreshed national protocol on tackling the over-criminalisation of children in care and care leavers in England – but this must take a gendered approach, and be consulted on with specialist organisations working with care-experienced girls.

Looking forward

Susannah Hancock’s independent review into the placement and care of girls in youth custody was now published over a year ago. Whilst we have since welcomed the creation of the Girls in Youth Justice Advisory Board, there is still no representation on this Board by an organisation focused on the specific, gendered needs of women and girls and we urgently need to see more tangible movement on the Hancock review’s recommendations, as well as a broadening in scope to ensure that the vulnerabilities driving girls' involvement in the youth justice system are identified and addressed through age-. gender-, trauma- and culturally-responsive support – long before they reach custody.  To support this, effective approaches to working with girls should be included as an initial priority for the new Youth Justice Innovation Fund, with a focus on racial disproportionality, the impact of trauma, and girls’ experiences of self-harm.

Underpinning all of this must be meaningful engagement with the women and girls’ voluntary sector, particularly organisations led by-and-for Black, Brown and racially minoritised women. These organisations – many of whom constitute Agenda Alliance’s members – must be meaningfully consulted and supported to share their time and expertise in driving forward these reforms and highlighting what actually works for girls.

Indy Cross, Chief Executive of Agenda Alliance, said: