At this year’s National Youth Justice Conference in Dundee on June 15 and 16, delegates came together to learn, share ideas and best practice, and enjoy themselves. Find out more.
We want all of our stakeholders to benefit from the conference, which is why we’ve pulled together the outcomes for you. Whether you weren’t able to attend or are keen to keep the learning going, we hope you find this resource both interesting and informative.
This year’s conference might be over but the planning has already started for 2017. That’s where you come in! We really want to hear your ideas for how to make the next conference (which also happens to be our 10th) bigger, better and bolder than ever. Which speakers would you like to hear from? What themes do you think should be covered? Please get in touch at cycj@strath.ac.uk, call us for a chat on 0141 444 8705, or share your ideas with the team when you see us out and about.
Speakers
Who were this year’s speakers? Find out here.
Day 1: June 15
Claire Lightowler, Director of CYCJ
Welcome
Look
Norma Corlette, CEO of Staf, and Michelle Rice
Chair and Co-Chair, Day 1 Opening plenary
Listen
Annabelle Ewing MSP, Minister for Community Safety & Legal Affairs
Ministerial Welcome
Listen
Frances Crook OBE, CEO, Howard League
Justice for Children, Not Youth Justice
Listen
Sheriff Alistair Duff, Director, Judicial Institute for Scotland
Young People in Court: The Judicial Perspective
Look
Listen
Robert Marshall, Head of Care and Justice, Scottish Government
Youth Justice Improvement Board
Listen
Maggie Fallon, Senior Education Officer, Education Scotland
What do we mean by included, engaged and involved?
Look
Listen
The Voices Project
Listen
Day 2: June 16
Diane Dobie, East Dunbartonshire Council/Chair of NYJAG
Welcome
Listen
David Harvie, Crown Agent, Procurator Fiscal Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (Chair) and Halim Noor (Co-Chair) Opening plenary
Listen – David Harvie
Listen – Halim Noor
Arlene Stuart, Head of Community Justice Operational Unit Scottish Government Community Justice
Look
Listen
Max Rutherford, Criminal Justice Programme Manager T2A
Smoothing Transitions and Accelerating Desistance: Lessons From the First Ten Years of the T2A Programme
Look
Listen
Professor William R Lindsay, Forensic and Clinical Psychologist and Jennifer van der Zwet
Young People with Learning Disabilities who are involved in Sexually Harmful Behaviour
Look
Listen
Workshops
Six workshops were held on both days, leading on topics including victim support, recorded police warnings and the importance of getting it right for vulnerable young women. CYCJ’s Practice Associate Debbie Nolan has written a blog detailing the learning points from these workshops. Download it here.
You can also read a guest blog by Michael Salkow of Victim Support Scotland, which follows on from the theme of his workshop on society’s treatment of victims of youth crime.
Table discussions in summary
Table discussions on both days gave delegates the opportunity to discuss the pertinent issues of the day:
Day 1: Minimum age of criminal responsibility – what are the implications for practice?
Day 2: CYP Act 2014 – What do you still need to know?
#YJconf16 in tweets and pictures
The conference generated a real buzz on social media, with the Twitter hashtag of #yjconf126 even trending!
View the Storify summary of the tweets here. Photos of the event are on Flickr.