Equality and Diversity in the Youth Justice System
TMA 04
Equality and Diversity in the Youth Justice System
This essay explores the ways in which discrimination is evident within the Youth Justice System, and discusses the current legislation on diversity and equality, which aims to address issues of discrimination within workplaces and public bodies. Discrimination, for the purposes of this piece, can be defined as unfair treatment of a person, or group of people, on the basis of prejudice. British legislation on equality and diversity has developed in response to the fact that discriminatory attitudes, behaviour and practice exist in modern society, and aims to address this issue by making it illegal to discriminate against a person or group of people because of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. A good introduction
The most recent legislation change has been the Equality Act 2010, which replaced Actsitems such as the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in order to collate and enhance the existing lawguidance (Government Equalities Office, 2010). It covers nine ‘protected characteristics’, which are age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and maternity and pregnancy. The focus of this piece will be on two of the above mentioned characteristics, race and gender, as well as looking at class discrimination (classism) which can be defined as prejudice on the basis of social class (Wikipedia, 2011 – try and avoid the use of Wikipedia. It is not the greatest academic source!). The concept of classism differs slightly from the characteristics of racism and sexism, as it is not set out in legislation, and therefore is not defined as thoroughly.Yes, good point. There is no statutory protection for people discriminated against on the grounds of class It can be argued that social class is less tangible than gender or ethnicity, and potentially more subjective, but a very
Equality and Diversity in the Youth Justice System
This essay explores the ways in which discrimination is evident within the Youth Justice System, and discusses the current legislation on diversity and equality, which aims to address issues of discrimination within workplaces and public bodies. Discrimination, for the purposes of this piece, can be defined as unfair treatment of a person, or group of people, on the basis of prejudice. British legislation on equality and diversity has developed in response to the fact that discriminatory attitudes, behaviour and practice exist in modern society, and aims to address this issue by making it illegal to discriminate against a person or group of people because of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. A good introduction
The most recent legislation change has been the Equality Act 2010, which replaced Actsitems such as the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in order to collate and enhance the existing lawguidance (Government Equalities Office, 2010). It covers nine ‘protected characteristics’, which are age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and maternity and pregnancy. The focus of this piece will be on two of the above mentioned characteristics, race and gender, as well as looking at class discrimination (classism) which can be defined as prejudice on the basis of social class (Wikipedia, 2011 – try and avoid the use of Wikipedia. It is not the greatest academic source!). The concept of classism differs slightly from the characteristics of racism and sexism, as it is not set out in legislation, and therefore is not defined as thoroughly.Yes, good point. There is no statutory protection for people discriminated against on the grounds of class It can be argued that social class is less tangible than gender or ethnicity, and potentially more subjective, but a very
References: Great Britain. The Race Relations Act 1976 (Amendment): Elizabeth II. (Regulations 2008). London Great Britain Reports, Documents and Articles Macpherson, W (1999), The Stephen Lawrence Enquiry, February White, R & Cunneen, C, 2006, ‘Social Class, Youth Crime and Justice’ in Goldson, Barry, Youth Crime and Justice: Critical Issues, SAGE Feilzer, M New Opportunities PDF available at www.hmg.gov.uk/media/9102/NewOpportunities.pdf Derrick, S, (2010) Black and mixed-race young people treated more harshly by youth justice system, research confirms, Children and Young People Now, 3rd September Available from: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/1026205 Accessed 14th March 2011 Tiggey, M, (2010) Ethnic Minority Young People: Differential treatment in the Youth Justice System Websites Nacro (2011) Equalities