FAR TOO MANY children and young people are in custody, the Bishop of Chelmsford has said.The Rt Rev John Gladwin was speaking during a House of Lords debate on the Government’s wide-ranging Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill on Tuesday, February 5.
He said legislation should try to turn around the situation and that custody should be regarded as last resort.
Bishop Gladwin told peers: “Do we not need to say in this House and in Parliament that in this nation of ours we have far too many children and young people in custody?
“Surely the aim of legislation should be to assist us to turn that culture around and move in a new direction."
He added: “For a number of years, my wife had professional work in the field of children held in custody. We know that the behaviour of some children and young people is deeply challenging to society.
“The easy thing to do, dare one say, is to whisk them out of society rather than think of other means of addressing the issues. We also know that custody is the place in which the highest safeguards have to be set out if the interests of children who have been locked away are to be protected.”
Later in the debate he added: “There is a danger in our debates of pulling apart the welfare of the child and the needs of the community. If we need a theme it is to bring those two things together.
“When we are serving the needs and welfare of children, we are serving the needs of society, the community and victims. When we are attending to the needs of victims and society, we should properly be attending to the welfare of children. If we can hold those things together we will get it right.”
He said that if children do have to be taken into custody they should be treated in a way that serves their interests and welfare.
The Bishop spoke in favour of an amendment which would have included a clause setting out general principles calling for the “best interests” of the child to be considered and an amendment restricting the cases in which a child can be sent to custody.
Both amendments were withdrawn without votes.
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