Breaking the Cycle: Empowering Youth through DEI Initiatives
The genuine and naïve hope of supporting young people out of the youth justice system was quickly turned into the consciousness of a system that often is unable to empower vulnerable people.
During my last few years working between semi-independent units, youth centres, children’s homes, homeless, human trafficking and modern slavery services, I observed the many BAME young people walking in and out from care and out of court orders.
Confronting disparities
Personally, I walked the justice system as young detainee and then on a out of court order for a few years in Italy. It was happening in 2006, in 2019, however, after a decade travelling a cross continents, I enrolled in a bachelor’s in youth justice. The academic path continue to be an illuminating path where I link my intuitions resulted from my lived experience to academic research.
I was fascinated, frustrated, sadly surprised when numbers where telling me that my views about injustices and inequalities faced by minority groups were real.
In 2016, just to mention a few numbers, the British national statistics were reporting that 74% of young offenders were white, while 14% were Black, 5% were Asian, 6% were mixed, and 1% were Chinese or other ethnicities. However, BAME young offenders were more likely to be sentenced to prison (71%, 86%, and 35% respectively).
Reflections and research led me my commitment to deeply explore systematic inequalities and how they trap people in what, as outsiders, we might call vicious circles.
Progressions’s opportunities often are held by the stereotypes and perceptions that others have on us. Young people who have walked the justice system often are marked by these labels and these experiences change their thought processing, expression, perception of realities and other people, increasing their perception of being “outsiders.”
Toward a more equitable future
My observation naturally led me toward the professional world of diversity, equity and inclusion. The identification of equitable strategies is necessary if we want to promote inclusion and empower young people. Before to conclude, I’m leaving a few suggestions:
- Awareness about the challenges faced by minority groups within the youth justice system helps challenge misconceptions and stereotypes.
- Education and dialogue can help, shifting the narrative from fear and judgment to compassion and support.
- Involving young people in community activities helps them rebuild social networks and develop positive relationships, reducing isolation and fighting stigmatisation.
- Ensuring equitable access to services and development opportunities helps marginalised young people to rebuild trust into institutions and professionals.
- Creating culturally sensitive policies and practices prevents further direct and indirect discrimination such as micro aggressions.
These suggestion promote the rehabilitation and reintegration rather than punishment and exclusion. Don’t forget the a successful life, regardless of our diversities and vulnerabilities, depends on accessibility to opportunities. People with complex experiences of inequalities need to re-gain trust in our society, institutions, professionals. People need to feel include and don’t forget that inclusion is never about inviting someone to a party, but about making sure they feel comfortable dancing with everyone else.
