Black Boys’ and Young Men’s Experiences with Criminal Justice and Desistance in England and Wales: A Literature Review

Abstract

Black boys and young men are over-represented in the youth and adult justice systems in England and Wales. Despite the Lammy Review (2017) into the treatment of and outcomes for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic individuals (BAME) in the criminal justice system, the disproportionate numbers of Black boys and young men at all stages of the system continue to rise. There has been limited qualitative research of Black boys' and young men's experiences with the justice system in England and Wales. In particular, there is a lack of evidence on their experiences with sentencing and courts. What is known tends to focus on Black, Asian, and minority ethnic and/or Muslim men's experiences more generally. A lack of critical understanding of the specific experiences of desistance by young Black men has been criticised in the literature. Set in this context, this review of UK literature focuses on the following questions: (1) What are Black boys' and young Black men's experiences with the youth and criminal justice systems in England and Wales? (2) What does research tell us specifically about their experiences with desistance?Keywords: black boys and young men; youth and criminal justice; desistance 1 Race is not a satisfactory term, as it is a social construction based on negative ethnic characteristics. However, it is used in this article as a means of articulating differentiation and othering through power and as a tool for analysis of this difference. databases were searched including the following: Criminal Justice Database, Criminal Justice abstracts, Scopus, and Socindex. Search terms included "Black and minority ethnic", "African or Caribbean", "youth justice system", "criminal justice system", "young men", and "desistance". Due to time constraints, it was not possible to conduct a systematic review of the literature. Therefore, the limitations of this literature review should be acknowledged, including the facts that only four databases were searched, a systematic record of papers was not made, and the research studies included were not critically appraised. Given the dearth of literature in this field, the aim was instead to identify the key issues and gaps in knowledge in the field. This literature review was specifically focused on the experiences of Black (African/Caribbean) boys and young men, but due to a lack of literature specifically on this group, this review also drew on studies more broadly focused on the experiences of BAME groups. This review drew on literature published in England only, as the focus was to understand experiences specifically in the English and Welsh youth and criminal justice systems. An initial scoping of the literature revealed a lack of recent, qualitative empirical studies. Therefore, it was decided to include literature published over the last 15 years despite recognition of the changes to the youth and adult CJS during this time.

Youth violence and knife crime in ethnic minorities in the UK: A review of the literature

“…Furthermore, an ‘integration’ of the two approaches as proposed by some authors, for example, Gebo (2016) may prove beneficial for the ultimate goals of crime prevention and public safety. The relationship between PHA and the wellbeing of BAME youth needs closer integration (Robertson & Wainwright, 2020).…”

“…Many official reports and writers attest to the fact that BAME youths are overrepresented within the youth criminal justice system (Bowling, 2007;Bowling & Phillips, 2016;EHRC, 2016;Gavin, 2018;Holt et al, 2019;Keeling, 2017;Lammy, 2017;Mediacom Real World Insight, 2016;Phillips et al, 2003;Robertson & Wainwright, 2020). BAME youths are said to be more likely to be prosecuted than to be reprimanded or warned (EHRC, 2016) and they are more likely to be remanded in custody than White defendants (Bowling & Phillips, 2016;Cunneen, 2006Cunneen, , 2020Holt et al, 2019) Ethnic minority suspects were more likely to be viewed suspiciously by the police for non-behavioural reasons (Bowling, 2007;Cunneen, 2006;Keeling, 2017;Phillips et al, 2003;Smithson et al, 2013).…”

Should desistance thinking be applied to children in the criminal justice system?

“…Despite continued awareness of discrimination and disproportionality in the criminal justice system, there are significant knowledge gaps, most notably on young Black men's experiences with court processes and associated with prison and probation services processes and practices (Robertson and Wainwright, 2020). As Brown (2019) notes, limited typographies of abuse and victimhood have also created service blindness to children who do not 'fit' our expectations of victimhood because of their gender, race, (dis)ability or social class.…”

Structural inequalities, knife crime: A qualitative study

“…Most BAME communities are said to be disadvantaged socio-economically compared to the majority white community (Gavin, 2018;Grey et al, 2013;Lammy, 2017;Robertson & Wainwright, 2020). The disadvantage of BAME communities is seen in a number of ways, such as education, poverty, employment, housing, political representation, justice and healthcare including mental health (Bhui et al, 2015;Catney & Sabater, 2015;Cunneen, 2020;EHRC, 2016;Gleeson et al, 2019;Gavin, 2018;Grey et al, 2013;Robertson & Wainwright, 2020;Vahdaninia et al, 2020;Vizard et al, 2015;Wainwright et al, 2020).The influence of structural inequality is felt within institutional processes of youth justice (Bowling & Phillips, 2016;Cunneen, 2020;Lammy, 2017;Williams, 2018). Cunneen (2020) drew comparisons between youth in UK and indigenous youth in Australia, analysing institutional processes of youth justice and how police racialise groups of young people.…”