4 Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System
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Kathryn Hollingsworth
Abstract
When the UK government plans its COVID-19 economic recovery, children and their rights must be at the heart of decision-making. All children have been deeply affected by the pandemic. The closure of schools and leisure facilities, the contraction of essential children’s and youth services, and increased exposure to stress, poverty, hunger, abuse and domestic violence during lockdown will have significant and enduring consequences and entrench existing disadvantage and discrimination along socio-economic, racial and ethnic lines (see Struthers, Chapter 11). This is especially true for children in conflict with the law. The response to the pandemic has heightened the conditions that draw children into contact with the criminal justice system (CJS) and had a detrimental impact on those currently within it, again perpetuating existing disparities especially for care-experienced and BAME heritage children. These are not, however, new problems brought about by the pandemic or the impending economic crisis. Rather, they are the very predictable consequences of a long-standing failure to address both the causes and responses to childhood offending in a way that is holistic, caring and rights-respecting, and in ways that are good for children, society and the economy.
Drawing on lessons from the decade of austerity, this chapter argues that the COVID-19 recovery period should be founded on principles of genera-relational justice. 1 A genera-relational approach to childhood offending recognizes both the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on children and our unique obligations to them. The chapter concludes, optimistically, that recent policy shifts in youth justice – including the intersecting ‘child-first’, trauma-informed and public health approaches – offer more fertile ground for a just response to the impending economic crisis than existed in the post-2008 period.
Abstract
When the UK government plans its COVID-19 economic recovery, children and their rights must be at the heart of decision-making. All children have been deeply affected by the pandemic. The closure of schools and leisure facilities, the contraction of essential children’s and youth services, and increased exposure to stress, poverty, hunger, abuse and domestic violence during lockdown will have significant and enduring consequences and entrench existing disadvantage and discrimination along socio-economic, racial and ethnic lines (see Struthers, Chapter 11). This is especially true for children in conflict with the law. The response to the pandemic has heightened the conditions that draw children into contact with the criminal justice system (CJS) and had a detrimental impact on those currently within it, again perpetuating existing disparities especially for care-experienced and BAME heritage children. These are not, however, new problems brought about by the pandemic or the impending economic crisis. Rather, they are the very predictable consequences of a long-standing failure to address both the causes and responses to childhood offending in a way that is holistic, caring and rights-respecting, and in ways that are good for children, society and the economy.
Drawing on lessons from the decade of austerity, this chapter argues that the COVID-19 recovery period should be founded on principles of genera-relational justice. 1 A genera-relational approach to childhood offending recognizes both the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on children and our unique obligations to them. The chapter concludes, optimistically, that recent policy shifts in youth justice – including the intersecting ‘child-first’, trauma-informed and public health approaches – offer more fertile ground for a just response to the impending economic crisis than existed in the post-2008 period.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Preface xiii
- Series Editor’s Preface xv
- Introduction 1
-
Justice
- Ruling the Pandemic 15
- Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum 27
- Virtual Poverty? What Happens When Criminal Trials Go Online? 41
- Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System 53
- Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies 65
- Rights and Solidarity during COVID-19 79
- COVID-19 PPE Extremely Urgent Procurement in England: A Cautionary Tale for an Overheating Public Governance 93
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The Social
- Accountability for Health and the NHS under COVID-19: The ‘Left behind’ and the Rule of Law in Post-Brexit UK 107
- COVID-19 in Adult Social Care: Futures, Funding and Fairness 119
- Housing, Homelessness and COVID-19 131
- Education, Austerity and the COVID-19 Generation 143
- What Have We Learned about the Corporate Sector in COVID-19? 155
- Social Security under and after COVID-19 171
- Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19 187
- From Loss to (Capital) Gains: Reflections on Tax and Spending in the Pandemic Aftermath 199
- Index 209
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Preface xiii
- Series Editor’s Preface xv
- Introduction 1
-
Justice
- Ruling the Pandemic 15
- Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum 27
- Virtual Poverty? What Happens When Criminal Trials Go Online? 41
- Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System 53
- Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies 65
- Rights and Solidarity during COVID-19 79
- COVID-19 PPE Extremely Urgent Procurement in England: A Cautionary Tale for an Overheating Public Governance 93
-
The Social
- Accountability for Health and the NHS under COVID-19: The ‘Left behind’ and the Rule of Law in Post-Brexit UK 107
- COVID-19 in Adult Social Care: Futures, Funding and Fairness 119
- Housing, Homelessness and COVID-19 131
- Education, Austerity and the COVID-19 Generation 143
- What Have We Learned about the Corporate Sector in COVID-19? 155
- Social Security under and after COVID-19 171
- Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19 187
- From Loss to (Capital) Gains: Reflections on Tax and Spending in the Pandemic Aftermath 199
- Index 209
