Youth & Criminal Justice in Scotland: The Young Person's Journey is a new, interactive online resource that aims to simplify how the youth and criminal justice system works for under 18s in Scotland. The resource was officially launched by Paul Wheelhouse MSP, Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs, on 26 January 2016.
Developed by CYCJ in partnership with Iriss and in consultation with a multi-disciplinary working group, The Young Person's Journey takes the form of a clickable 'map' that details and explains the entirety of the journey a young person can make from an offence allegedly being committed: routes to court, court processes and sentencing; stages in the journey should a young person be remanded or sentenced to secure care or custody or sentenced to a community disposal; and post-sentence support.
The Young Person's Journey has been developed in response to a growing awareness that young people are often confused about court processes and the experience of being taken into custody.
Feedback from young people themselves has been extremely encouraging - one young person stated that he 'enjoyed watching the short video, navigating his way through 'the journey' and compared this to his own experiences of being in secure care/custody. He was able to relate to every stage and gave examples of how he coped emotionally and what helped him through the process. This young person felt that it would have been good to access this type of resource while he was in secure care/custody as this may have helped him to get his 'head round things a bit better'".
