The Young Advisors Project through Leaders Unlocked has helped me be part of creating a platform for empowerment. We are a group of young adults from across the country all with experience of the Justice System directly and indirectly. We have key priorities for change and run workshops in multiple settings to gather voices of other young adults.
As someone with lived experience of the Justice System, being in rooms with decision makers to put across the voice of the young adults we’ve worked with is amazing. 'Informed reform' (catchy, I know) is something that we’re all passionate about and it's important for young adults impacted by the criminal justice system to feel listened to.
Over the 2018-19 period, the Young Adult Advisors have worked in collaboration with a range of public and charitable bodies to provide advice, challenge and insight from a young adult perspective. Some of these collaborations included:
• Work with HMPPS on their 10-year strategy for prisons and probation;
• Work with MoJ presenting insights and solutions in relation to racial disproportionality in youth justice;
• Being guest speakers and panellists at events held by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons) and Unlocked Graduates to reach their current and future workforces;
• Work with Revolving Doors to inform an initiative to improve approaches to policing vulnerable young adults;
• Work with the Howard League for Penal Reform to inform new sentencing principles for young adults.
The Young Advisors project has created experiences, not just for me, but for everyone involved that I never thought were possible. I’ve had the privilege on being on this project since it’s creation 4 years ago and every year we have done more and more to reach young adults experiencing the justice system and we are driven to reach more as the project goes into its 5th year.
Our work and our recommendations from the past 2 years can be found here http://leaders-unlocked.org/luwp/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/YoungAdvisorsonCriminalJustice_final-pdf.pdf.
For those who are interested in finding out more about our latest report and how you can collaborate with us on our recommendations, we will be holding an Insights event on 17th July - click below to get your tickets!
Thank you all for reading and stay safe!
