Living it! Children, young people and justice

On Tuesday February 17, Trisha Hall attended the above Parliamentary reception, sponsored by Kenny MacAskill MSP. These events in the early evening within our Scottish Parliament are usually informative, and an opportunity to network with people. This session was certainly one with a difference.

Scottish Justice Matters, a magazine on new insights written by researchers, practitioners, policy advocates and academics, which published the “Living it” project by CYCJ (Centre for youth and criminal justice), and Venture Trust, a provider of programmes for people from all kinds of backgrounds who are addressing difficult circumstances in their lives were all present. More importantly, young people themselves talked about what it is like to be young and actually go through, or be affected by the system. Their evidence was inspirational, brave and upfront. There was no jargon talk about “challenges”, it was simply “This is what it feels like, this is what it is.” It wasn’t a call for sympathy; it was a clear factual representation of experiences, delivered by young people who spoke with passion, no frills, but who were making a compelling case for change, as what we have frankly does not work. You can read about the event and see people’s stories at http://www.cycj.org.uk/  there is an ongoing conversation on twitter #Livingit