Crime and Punishment / 1902-present
Crime and Punishment: Borstals and Youth Justice
Youth punishment changed from strict borstals to more education and support.
What To Remember
- Borstals began in 1902 to separate young offenders from adult criminals.
- The Prevention of Crime Act 1908 developed the borstal system around discipline, education and reform.
- Later youth justice moved between welfare and punishment, including attendance centres, social workers, detention centres and youth custody centres.
Borstals
The first borstal was set up in 1902 at Borstal near Rochester in Kent.
Borstals were created to keep young offenders away from older criminals who might make them worse.
They were strict, with drills, sport, competitions, education and training, so they mixed punishment with reform.
Reform and welfare
The workbook gives a reoffending rate of about 30% after release from borstals, compared with a much higher figure for many young offenders today.
The Children and Young Persons Act 1963 set the age of criminal responsibility at 10 and reflected the belief that very young children could not fully understand right and wrong.
By 1969, young offenders were increasingly supported by probation officers and social workers instead of simply being imprisoned.
Later changes
Attendance centres taught basic life skills to young offenders, while youth detention centres in the 1980s brought back harsher discipline because reoffending worried the government.
Borstals were abolished in the early 1980s and replaced by youth custody centres.
The bigger change was that young offenders were increasingly treated as a separate group needing reform, welfare and protection as well as punishment.
Revision Prompt
How did attitudes to young offenders change over time?