On 18 May 2026, the Ministry of Justice published a White Paper on youth justice, outlining reforms to the youth justice system alongside a delivery plan. Titled ‘Cutting Youth Crime, Changing Young Lives,’ the proposals set a clear ambition to prioritise early intervention, rehabilitation, and reduce the number of children in custody. It is positive to see growing recognition of the needs of young adults within this White Paper, however, for this cohort, it stops short of dedicated action. The White Paper states its provisions represent a ‘once-in-a-generation reform of youth justice in England and Wales’, and yet, the provisions do not go nearly far enough in providing a clear vision to reimagine justice for children or young adults. 

Whilst the proposals recognise the distinct needs of children, requiring a different approach to adults, we’re disappointed that yet again, the cut-off of services and support at 18 is perpetuated, despite the overwhelming neuroscientific evidence that brain maturation, particularly in areas governing impulse control, risk assessment, and emotional regulation, continues well into the mid-twenties.  

A youth justice system that invests in child-centred, developmental approaches and then abandons them the moment a person turns 18 is not evidence-based. 

Early intervention and Diversion 

T2A’s position is clear: action taken at the point of a custodial sentence is action taken years too late. We welcome focus on prevention, early intervention, and diversion, as key pillars to meaningfully reduce the number of children coming into contact with the criminal justice system. For this reason, the extension of the Turnaround programme is positive, in its support of a voluntary, relational model.  However, the scheme must not solely be offered through Youth Offending Teams (YOTs), as it signals a child is already on the cusp of offending or has already offended. To need to get to this point to access support is to act too late. Some of this funding should be diverted to community and grassroots organisations that can engage with families and caregivers well ahead of the point of offending, and prevent, intervene early or divert before they ever get to the attention of the police or YOTs in the first place. 

Further, we call on the government to develop an equivalent scheme for young adults at the cusp of the adult criminal justice system, funded through the proposed Youth Justice Innovation Fund. The out-of-court resolution reform consultation should explicitly provide for a young adult framework, including a statutory young adult conditional caution with a mandatory developmental assessment component, and a deferred prosecution scheme for 18 to 25 year olds modelled on successful youth schemes.  

Young Futures Hubs, which already extend to age 24 in cases of special educational needs and disabilities, or vulnerabilities, should explicitly include justice-involved young adults in their eligibility criteria, with Youth and Young Adult Justice Service transition workers co-located on site. 

Courts and Legal Process 

The commitment to review the function of criminal courts for child defendants is welcome, particularly the consideration of whether young adults might benefit from a similar process. T2A asks that this review explicitly includes young adults aged 18 to 25 in its terms of reference, drawing on international evidence of young adult courts, and considers piloting a young adult intervention court pathway running alongside the proposed Youth Intervention Courts.  

We also ask that the mandatory specialist training proposed for lawyers representing children is extended to cover defendants aged 18 to 25, with training materials focused on neurodevelopmental evidence and young adult vulnerability. 

Sentencing 

Whilst T2A strongly supports the move away from short custodial sentences and the strengthening of community alternatives for children, we know that sentences for young adults are getting longer and longer. The data may show decreasing numbers of young adults coming through the system, but for those who are still impacted, the process is getting tougher.¹ T2A have long called for the establishment of young adults as a distinct statutory cohort within the criminal justice system through an ‘Emerging Adult Transition Status’, with specific sentencing protections, similar to that of children. 

We ask that sentencing guidelines are amended to require courts to consider neurodevelopmental maturity, not age alone, as a mitigating factor for all defendants under 25, and that statutory maturity assessments are available at sentencing for this age group. We also ask that the presumption against short custodial sentences being developed for the youth estate is extended to the 18 to 25 cohort. 

Remand 

We know that many children and young adults who are remanded to prison are eventually either acquitted or given a community sentence. In 2024, 441 children who were in custody awaiting a hearing did not end up receiving a custodial sentence, and another 168 children had their case dismissed altogether.² For those who have been languishing in prison for months, even years, this is not justice. 

The 25 per cent reduction target for unnecessary custodial remands is therefore welcome, and we urge its extension to young adults. Although fewer young adults are going through the courts, those that do find themselves in court for more serious offences are increasingly more likely to be remanded in custody and to receive custodial sentences, and less likely to receive community sentences.³ 

T2A calls for the community remand alternatives funded under this programme to be made available on a step-up basis for 18 to 25 year olds entering the adult system, and that a statutory transition planning meeting is required for any young person who turns 18 while on remand.  

Crucially, the racial disproportionality review of remand decisions must include 18 to 25 year olds. We know remand disproportionately impacts Black and racially minoritised children and young adults: In June 2023, 26 per cent of remanded 18-20-year-olds and 18 per cent of remanded 21–25-year-olds were Black, compared to less than six per cent and five per cent respectively in the general population.⁴  It’s critical to consider Gypsy, Roma and Traveller young adults within scope of this review too. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller young adults are disproportionately remanded to custody, and face some of the worst disparities and outcomes within the criminal justice system, although hesitancy to disclose ethnicity due to discrimination results in a significant undercount on official records.⁵

Further, specific attention must be given to the disproportionate impact of remand on girls and young adult women. In March 2025, over half of the young women (aged 18-20) in prison were there on remand.⁶ This coincides with worryingly high levels of self-harm amongst young women in prison, the overwhelming majority of whom have committed non-violent offences. We call on the Ministry of Justice to therefore expand this review to young adult women. 

Custody and Transition 

As the youth custodial population becomes smaller and more focused on serious offences, increasing numbers of children will serve sentences extending well into adulthood. We are glad to see the White Paper acknowledge the transition from youth to adult custody as a problematic point, as was found in our lived experience focus groups for our response to the Justice Committee’s inquiry into Children and Young Adults – but we see no plan of action attached to this. Our ask is that the Youth Custody Transformation Plan include a dedicated chapter on transition to the adult estate, with statutory joint planning between youth custody and the adult prison service from at least three to six months prior to transfer.  

Further, in line with our recommendation made to the Justice Committee, T2A asks the Ministry of Justice to pilot a young adult wing model in the adult estate adjacent to youth custodial sites. It is necessary for this wing to be carefully co-designed with young adults themselves, for young adults to have access to older peers – who, according to lived experience focus groups – can provide a calming influence on the wing – and a dedicated trauma and culturally responsive, developmentally appropriate regime, with continuity of staff and therapeutic relationships, alongside meaningful access to education, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. 

Annmarie Lewis OBE, Head of Criminal Justice at Barrow Cadbury Trust: 

“The central ask of T2A is clear: the developmental, rehabilitative principles underpinning this White Paper should not stop at age 18. We must consider children and young adults together, because their experiences are fundamentally connected. We cannot understand young adults in the justice system without examining the pathways that led them there, just as we cannot speak about children without recognising where those pathways so often end. This is not two separate challenges, but a single journey – a shared pipeline. Every cliff edge at 18, every point at which we withdraw developmentally informed support, reflects a conscious policy choice with real and measurable human consequences. 

We urge the government to commission a companion Young Adult Justice Strategy that cuts across prisons, courts, probation, policing and prevention services, and to ensure that every reform set out here – in courts, sentencing, remand, records, diversion and custody – is explicitly considered for application to young adults.  

But we need to go further. To keep focusing on solutions at the latter end of the system – where the most harm is concentrated – to the detriment of investment into schools, local communities, tackling poverty, and youth and community provision, is to let both children and young adults down. What we need is a fundamental reimagining of justice, and that must coincide with a diversion of funds from the custodial estate into investment into the voluntary and community sector, alongside a cross-departmental effort to improve the lives of every child and young adult.”

1. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (2026) Smaller But Tougher  ↩︎
2. Childrens Commissioner (2025) “A production line of pointlessness”: Children on custodial remand ↩︎
3. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (2025) Smaller, but tougher: How the criminal justice system is processing young adults  ↩︎
4. Howard League (2023) What’s wrong with remanding young adults to prison: voices and lessons learned  ↩︎
5. Friends, Families, Travellers (2025) Trapped in the Turnstile: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people’s experience of the criminal justice system  ↩︎
6. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (2025) Smaller, but tougher: How the criminal justice system is processing young adults  ↩︎