27 July 2022

We’ve not given up: young women surviving the criminal justice system. Full report.

Care system, Inequalities, Race and ethnicity, Trauma, Women offenders

Open report

This report is about girls and young women aged 17 to 25 years old in contact with the criminal justice system. In particular, it highlights the experiences of Black, Asian and minoritised young women, and young women with experience of the care system as both groups are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

This is the final report of the Young Women’s Justice Project, run by Agenda and the Alliance for Youth Justice since January 2020.


Publisher: Agenda and Alliance for Youth Justice
Author: Maggie Bridge

Joint Enterprise: A view over time
April 2026
Joint Enterprise: A view over time

The report looks at two decades of data on joint enterprise, finding a disproportionate impact on young adults and persistent racial disparities.

Read more
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.

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

This Centre for Crime and Justice Studies report looks at harsher outcomes experienced by young adults in the criminal justice system over time.

Download report