Following months of campaigning and legal action, children’s
legal charity Just for Kids Law is pleased to welcome today’s
decision from the Ministry of Justice to amend its recent
extension to custody time limits to exempt children. New
regulations excluding children from the extended custody time
limits will be laid as soon as the parliamentary timetable allows
and will have a retrospective effect which means that children
who have been remanded in the Crown Court since 28 September 2020
will have their automatic custody time limits reduced and their
trials relisted within the previous shorter custody time limits.
The Ministry of Justice is now in the process of circulating the
decision to all relevant stakeholders for appropriate action to
be taken.
Previously, the Government introduced regulations which extended the
custody time limits in the Crown Court by two months in an
attempt to address ongoing delays in the criminal justice system
which have worsened during the pandemic. The regulations, which
came into force in September 2020, meant that a child could spend
almost eight months in custody before they have even had a trial.
When the regulations were initially published, we were very
concerned that they would have an overwhelmingly disproportionate
impact on children, particularly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic
(BAME) children. Despite only making up 18% of the total
population of children, the Government’s own statistics show that
over half
of children held in custody (52%) are from a BAME background
(the majority being Black) and 57% of children on remand are from
a BAME background.
In September, we wrote
jointly to the Ministry of Justice with The Howard League for Penal
Reform and Liberty to raise our
concerns about the disproportionate impact of the extension of
custody time limits on those remanded pending trial, particularly
on children from BAME backgrounds. In our joint letters, we
stated that the regulations were potentially unlawful and
requested that they be withdrawn. In their initial response, the
Government refused to withdraw the regulations, relying on an
argument of ‘unprecedented challenges’ that the pandemic has
brought to the justice system.
Just for Kids Law therefore issued a Pre-Action letter to
challenge the Government’s refusal to withdraw the regulations,
focusing on the impact the regulations have on children,
following which, the Ministry of Justice agreed to consult the
Children’s Commissioner and reconsider their position.
Today, the Ministry of Justice announced that they will introduce
further regulations exempting children from the extended custody
time limits. The regulations will apply retrospectively to
children who had their custody time limits set under the
September 2020 regulations, and so all children remanded at the
Crown Court will have a custody time limit of 182 days even if
their first appearance took place prior to the laying date of
these new regulations. Their trials will also be required to be
relisted to take place within the shorter custody time limits.
Jennifer Twite, Head of Strategic Litigation at Just for
Kids Law said: “We’re delighted that the Government has
made the right decision in exempting children from its extension
to pre-trial custody time limits. Pre-trial detention is damaging
for children and its use has a particularly disproportionate
impact on Black and Ethic Minority children.
“Today’s decision means that children will again have the benefit
of a shorter custody time limit which means that they will spend
less time in custody and their trials will take place sooner.
This is especially important during the pandemic, which
exacerbated the conditions of detention in children’s prisons and
increased isolation by reducing contact with family and access to
vital services.”
