30 January 2025

Adultifying Youth Custody: learning lessons on transition to adulthood from the use of youth custody for young adults

Transition, Young adults

The Alliance for Youth Justice briefing ‘Adultifying Youth Custody: Learning lessons on transition to adulthood from the use of youth custody for young adults’ explores how the Government’s decision to temporarily raise the age young people transfer from the children’s secure estate to the adult secure estate from 18 to 19  resulted in a 253% increase in the number of over 18s in the child estate. The briefing highlights the lost opportunity for systemic reform during this time and warns of the long-term risk of blurring the boundaries between youth and adult justice systems.

10 September 2025
From exploited to exploiter?

This report looks at how to prevent the unjust criminalisation of victims of child criminal exploitation in the transition to adulthood.

Criminal Justice, young adults
Smaller but tougher: How the criminal justice system is processing young adults

This Centre for Criminal Justice report looks at trends for young adults in the criminal justice system for more serious offences

Joint Enterprise
The legal dragnet: Joint Enterprise law and its implications

'The legal dragnet' examines the law and prosecution practice concerning secondary liability, often referred to as 'joint enterprise'.