On July 17th, Karen addressed the All Party Parliamentary Group on youth affairs, introducing the Home Affairs Select Committee report on ‘Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System’. In addition to MPs, the meeting included a number of young people who had experience of the system.

Karen said, “I certainly got a great deal out of the exchange. We talked widely about why some young people get drawn into crime and what can make them change. One of the most striking things about the discussion was how often education came up, with children who had been excluded from school being far more likely to end up in the criminal justice system than those who had not been. It is obvious we have far more to do to keep these young people engaged in education- not at the expense of other pupils, certainly, but nonetheless, our failure to do so often traps young people into a downward spiral of behaviour.”

Read the report online