We are delighted to share that Clan Childlaw has secured funding from The Promise Partnership for the Rights In-Justice project.
Through this project, Clan Childlaw will be working to ensure that children and young people in conflict with the law have their rights respected and have access to legal support where public authorities fail in their duties to them.
When we talk about children and young people ‘in conflict with the law’ we are referring to circumstances when children and young people are suspected, accused or convicted of an offence. This includes, but is not limited to, children and young people who are in contact with the Youth or Criminal Justice system. Children and young people might be in contact with the Children’s Hearing System or the courts, they might be in secure care or in Young Offender’s Institutions/prisons.
Children and young people in conflict with the law also face challenges outwith the Youth or Criminal Justice system, sometimes having difficulties at school or in their local community, perhaps experiencing difficult relationships with parents, carers, professionals and services. The project will pay attention to this range of experiences and settings, working to ensure rights are respected for all children and young people in conflict with the law wherever they are and whatever they have done.
The project will run for two years, starting in April 2023, and will:
- Empower children and young people in conflict with the law to hold public authorities to account when they fail in their duties to them
- Increase access to good quality child-centred legal representation for children and young people in conflict with the law.
- Challenge policies, practices and systems where rights violations are identified
- Improve understanding of what needs to happen to improve legal support for those in conflict with the law, of what Clan Childlaw can contribute and where others are well placed to act.
This work builds on the findings of the scoping study on the legal needs of children and young people in conflict with the law which involved engaging with children, young people and professionals.
