Juvenile justice in New York

I spoke at a meeting in Bedford yesterday alongside Nick Herbert MP, shadow justice secretary, and Elizabeth Gaynes, executive director of
the Osborne Association in New York. It was interesting because of the consensus amongst speakers and audience, comprised mostly of magistrates and youth court practitioners, that custody for children should be avoided at all costs and that support for the whole family
was needed.

Liz Gaynes said that New York state was operating 3 empty juvenile prisons. The staff go to work every day, but there are no prisoners.
The strong correctional unions means that the institutions are kept open even though there are no children in them, because if they closed the staff would be unemployed. I have every sympathy with staff in more rural areas where employment opportunities are limited, but the lesson must be that the state should never, never invest in prisons in these areas in the first place, because it becomes impossible to close them down. This is frightening for us, should the government ever go ahead with Titan prisons. We are working with local people in Warrington, where a large site earmarked for an industrial park is now being considered for the first Titan prison. So instead of industry and commerce, they get a jail. And they would get it for generations to come.

The other interesting difference between New York and our juvenile justice system is that the correctional records of children there are sealed and are not carried with them into adulthood.