Exploring the Lammy review — Locating racial discrimination among the key concerns of contemporary youth justice

Abstract: This presentation singles out racial discrimination in England and Wales among the key concerns of contemporary youth justice. Racial discrimination relates to a continued process of marginalisation which recurrently denies racialised youth opportunities for equitable participation within the contemporary, socio-political order. The discussion takes its point of departure from the 2017 Lammy Review, a report by British Member of Parliament David Lammy which concluded that the youth justice system in England and Wales facilitates racial discrimination. Lammy observed that Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) youth continue to be disproportionately incarcerated, reflecting the tendency of authorities to confine BAME youth at higher rates than their White counterparts. Following from Lammy’s Review, I propose that disproportionate incarceration among racialised youth offers a more complex picture of contemporary youth justice in England and Wales than present critical criminological debates purporting a fall in custody rates. The presentation engages disproportionate incarceration and argues that racialised youth face unique vulnerabilities compounded around race, class, and gender that are subsumed within these current criminological debates. From this perspective racialised youth face continued denial of opportunities for equitable socio-political participation that cannot be overcome within these more homogenised discussions seeking ‘youth justice with integrity’.