On 12 February 2026, the Ministry of Justice published ‘A Modern Youth Justice Service: Foundations Fit for The Future’, a policy paper setting out reforms and plans to modernise the youth justice system. 

The strategy set out many provisions that voluntary sector organisations, community groups and people with lived experience working within the criminal justice system have long been calling for, including: 

T2A welcomes these reforms, particularly a funded commitment to alternatives to custody for children, and a recognition of the value and expertise of voluntary sector organisations working to support children, through sustained and considered investment. It is commendable that this policy paper has outlined what many in the sector have been saying for years: that children who remain in custody have been failed repeatedly by the state, and that there is a concerning trend towards racial disproportionality within the youth justice system. Institutional recognition of these systemic issues is the first step in reversing these injustices. 

However, commitments like these can only go so far when they are effectively redundant as soon as a child turns 18. T2A has consistently highlighted the neuroscientific evidence demonstrating that full maturation is not achieved until at least age 25, and that those aged 18-25 face a cliff-edge of support when transitioning into adulthood. Approaches that prioritise safety, support and care rapidly devolve into those of punishment and stigma, despite young adults having significant capacity for desistance with the right approaches, like those laid out within these reforms. 

That is why we urge the Government to be bold and extend this strategy to young adults. In 2016, in our submission to the Justice Select Committee’s inquiry into young adults in the criminal justice system, we called for a distinct national approach. The Committee adopted this as its principal recommendation, though it was never formalised by government. Ten years on, with a new parliamentary inquiry underway, we have a renewed opportunity to focus on young adults, and we hope the Government and the Ministry of Justice will seize this moment for change and work to significantly reduce the number of young adults coming into contact with the criminal justice system. 

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

 “The outlined reforms to the youth justice system are a strong example of the crucial and positive changes that can be enacted when children – and the sector that works with them – are listened to, sustainably funded, and supported. This is a strategy seeking to invest in what works, and we hope that the Government will continue its progress by following decades of evidence that show how transformative it could be to apply a similar and distinct approach to young adults.”