Reflections on Diversion
With the newly revised Diversion from Prosecution Standards soon to be launched, our guest blogger Kenny looks back at the intervention that ultimately helped him chart a path away from crime. At 13 I started getting involved in some behaviour in my community that people said was “anti-social”. I was just hanging around with my […]
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Youth Justice Voices: connecting young people during COVID-19
Ruth Kerracher, Youth Justice Participation Worker for Youth Justice Voices, CYCJ and Staf’s creative participation project, shares how the group is staying involved and active during the COVID-19 UK lockdown. Care and justice experienced young people involved in Staf and CYCJ’s Youth Justice Voices project have been asked to participate in various pieces of work […]
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Don’t just throw away the key – educating incarcerated young people
In a guest blog for CYCJ, University of Gloucestershire academics Dr Adeela ahmed Shafi MBE shares an innovative approach to the education of young people who are incarcerated. Locking them up and throwing away the key is effectively what a society does when it incarcerates young people who offend, if the education offered does not […]
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Much more than attainment
Shelley Buckley talks us through the SQA’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Award, which was developed at the Good Shepherd Centre, and how this could change the way we perceive mental health. Since 2017 I have been in the privileged position to work with the Good Shepherd Centre (GSC) team and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) […]
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Turning evaluation into action
In her third and final evaluation blog trilogy, evaluator Catherine-Rose Stocks-Rankin reflects on the evaluation of CYCJ and looks forward to actions and next steps – joined by Liz Murdoch, Youth Justice Team Leader at the Scottish Government. When the evaluation of CYCJ was first planned, the Youth Justice Team in Scottish Government, alongside […]
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Victims – know your rights
Pamela Morrison attended the Victim Support Scotland reception for Victims Awareness Week. Here she shares why knowing your rights as a victim is so important – and what’s being done to support this. In order for justice to truly be served we need to ensure that our system not only responds to those who have […]
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Children in custody – trends and patterns from 2015 to 2019
As we embark upon a new decade, Debbie Nolan looks back at four years’ worth of data for children in custody in Scotland – and what the numbers are telling us. December 2019 was a big month. The last month of the decade, the usual frantic end of year deadlines mixed in with the stream […]
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Sexuality Communication with Young People on the Autism Spectrum
Research has highlighted that adolescents and adults with high-functioning ASD have just as much capacity for sexual behaviour as those with no diagnosis of ASD. Despite this, individuals with ASD still can experience prejudicial stereotypes that they are asexual, hyper-or hypo sexual, child-like and dependent, and/or uninterested in sex. Moreover, some hold the view that […]
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Deprivation of liberty in Northern Ireland
What can we learn from other countries about how we approach deprivation of liberty? Debbie Nolan shares learning from her recent exchange visit with secure care colleagues in Northern Ireland. Since taking over the secure care practice development advisor post last year, I have been in touch with people across various countries to discuss deprivation […]
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