Colleagues from across youth justice and policing are invited to join a Virtual Learning Café run by the Youth Endowment Fund and Centre for Justice Innovation. This is part of our Evidence in Practice series, giving you opportunity to hear from policy experts and practitioners on relevant research and practice.
Violence has devastating impacts on children and families. While children from all backgrounds can face violence, we see children from certain ethnic groups – especially Black children – are disproportionately likely to be victims of violence. The majority of children in the youth justice system, and involved in violence, are White. However, relative to their share of the population, some minority ethnic groups – and Black children in particular – are over-represented, while other groups – e.g. those from Asian backgrounds – are under-represented.
The Youth Endowment Fund’s (YEF’s) mission is to prevent children and young people from becoming involved in violence. It’s fundamental that we understand and address the experiences of children from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds in relation to violence and criminal justice. If we don’t challenge the role that racism plays in young people’s experiences of youth justice and access to support, we won’t achieve our mission.
This session will focus on continuing the conversation on what works to reduce racial disproportionality in the youth justice system, the steps to ensure equal access to diversion, and how to build increased confidence and trust in diversion pathways.
We will be joined by:
- Joe Kiff - Research Fellow at University of Bedfordshire
- Caroline Adams - Senior Project Manager/ Strategic Engagement Lead, College of Policing and Your Police
- Alex Finn - Digital Youth Engagement Team Lead, National Police Chiefs' Council
- Bami Jolaoso - Senior Innovative Practice Officer, Centre for Justice Innovation
The event will run online using MS Teams on Thursday 25th September 2025 at 10:00-11:30.
