A MULTI-AGENCY partnership has been established as part of efforts to implement a new strategy for preventing children and young people from “going into a life of crime”.
The group comprises a number of key stakeholders, including the States and honorary police, the probation service, Jersey Cares and the children’s service, among others.
The Justice and Home Affairs Department said that “appropriate progress” had been made since the Youth Justice Roadmap was published in June.
The strategy outlined the government’s intended “children-first” approach to youth justice with an emphasis on prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation.
A JHA spokesperson said: “The plan has been designed to ensure all children and young people – including those who have come into contact with the youth justice system – are supported to lead safe, successful, and fulfilling lives.”
They continued: “Appropriate progress, in line with available resource, has been made, and since its publication, a multi-agency partnership group has been set up and has met on a number of occasions.”
The spokesperson noted that these meetings will continue in 2026.
“The partnership group has been prioritising what can be done within existing resourcing,” they added.
“The partnership group has undertaken work to identify what data is available and how best to measure the outputs from the strategy in addition to looking at future data.”
Children’s Minister Richard Vibert has previously described the Youth Justice Roadmap as an “extremely important strategy”, stating that “we don’t want children criminalised and going into a life of crime”.
He said the new approach involved consideration of “very early intervention” to help keep children and young people out of the criminal justice system where possible, even before proceedings reached parish hall level.
