End Child Imprisonment

Deprivation of liberty only when absolutely necessary, and never for punishment.

The End Child Imprisonment campaign is run by Article 39, Alliance for Youth Justice, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Child Rights International Network (CRIN), Howard League for Penal Reform, INQUEST, Just for Kids Law, the National Association for Youth Justice and several leading children’s rights and child justice campaigners. If you support our aims, and wish to be listed on our supporters page, please sign up below.

We launched the campaign at the House of Lords on 22 November 2018, hosted by the late Lord David Ramsbotham who had been HM Chief Inspector of Prisons between 1995 and 2001. Other speakers at the launch event were (in order of speaking): Baroness Vivien Stern, justice and penal reformer; Dr John Chisholm, Chair of BMA Medical Ethics Committee; Dr Tim Bateman, National Association for Youth Justice; Carolyne Willow, Article 39; and Liz Hardy, mother of Jake Hardy, who died in Hindley young offender institution in 2012. Read 8 November 2018 letter in the Guardian newspaper announcing the campaign launch later that month.

Our campaign goals

We promote and protect children’s rights in England through four complementary areas of work:

Press for the closure of England’s child prisons and raise awareness of the harms of child imprisonment.
Propose a child welfare-based and human rights compliant secure model for the small number of children who cannot be safely looked after and supported in the community.
Push for responsibility for detained children to be moved out of the government department that deals with adult imprisonment. At a local level, responsibility for the care and support of detained children must lie with children’s social care services.
Seek changes to law and practice so that deprivation of liberty is an absolute measure of last resort, leading to substantially fewer children being detained.
Remove punishment and deterrence as reasons for locking up children.