Criminalising parents won’t fix youth crime but David Lammy doing it anyway

David Lammy has been doing the rounds on breakfast television discussing his latest plans to reform the way the justice system handles youth offenders. Promising that he will cut the number of children jailed by 25% and ending lifelong criminal records for young people, Lammy instead appears to be passing jail time onto parents instead.

Once again Lammy shows that he is more interested in statistics than in addressing the real issues behind these serious problems in our society. After all, we know the impact that under investment in communities, lack of opportunities and poverty have on the likelihood of antisocial behaviour and youth crime.

Therefore, whilst Lammy’s proposal contains positive changes such as ending lifelong criminal records for under-18s, it does precious little to address this long-neglected issue in British society.

Put simply, it will yet again pass the burden of responsibility onto increasingly overwhelmed and struggling families.

David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, will introduce reforms in the Youth Justice White Paper today. 

Parents and guardians could face harsher repercussions if their children break the law.

Sophy and Wilf discuss on #CheatSheet: https://t.co/tphdz3SBas pic.twitter.com/ZJKVuXRcLI

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 18, 2026

Lammy: where is the investment in youth?

Firstly, it’s important to recognise that the white paper put forward by David Lammy does include some positive measures that could improve the lives of criminalised young people in British society.

For example, alongside reducing the number of young people held in custody while awaiting trial, it will also prevent youth offences from following them into adult life. That shift could make a real difference to future opportunities for those affected, and in turn lead to far better long-term outcomes.

However, the paper still falls short in acknowledging the deeper causes of antisocial behaviour and youth crime. The drivers of youth crime run much deeper, and without serious investment in communities, the same problems will persist – only now with a wider net of criminalisation affecting entire families.

According to the Guardian, Lammy celebrated his reform proposal saying:

Growing up in Tottenham in the 1980s, my biggest fear was ending up in prison. That may sound irrational, but in truth it was the fate of so many young Black boys like me.

You saw it happen slowly at first. People missed school, got into petty trouble, started hanging around with the wrong crowd. No one stepped in to pull them back. For us, going to jail didn’t feel shocking or distant. It felt almost inevitable.

I could have been one of them, but was fortunate to get a scholarship to a state boarding school, which gave me the route out that others never had.

I often think: ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ Even today, that line between a child who thrives and a child whose life falls apart is often painfully thin.

“Anything for an easy life”

Struggling families often have backgrounds of deep trauma, poverty, and struggle. Many families who are considered to have largely ‘given up’ feel deeply that society has given up on them first.

For example, most families living on the breadline are also surrounded by similarly deprived communities that have seen little to no investment. They’re left to cope alone, with almost no real support to help them get through relentless financial pressure and increasingly busy lives.

So, when children start to struggle, it becomes an overwhelming burden. In some cases, people step back simply because they feel exhausted, unsupported, and stuck looking at what feels like a pretty bleak future. Understanding why so-called ‘anti-social behaviour’ happens is the only way to actually fix it.

Decades of underinvestment have left communities with crumbling infrastructure, barely any green spaces, and no youth services where young people can feel safe or actually socialise.

This class-war move to continually demonise and diminish working class families for the society they are stuck with, which underpays and undervalues the work of ordinary people, runs deep in British society:

'Lord' Bamford shouts loud about scroungers on Welfare ….
The Irony….
From the guy who owes over £500 Million in Taxes.
Apparently 16k of the most vulnerable families in the UK receive 60k in 'Benefits' ….no doubt extreme circumstances as this isn't usual from DWP 4 sure https://t.co/kU9kcqLLu8

— Barnaclebum6 (@barnaclebum6) May 16, 2026

People need to feel they have worth in society

Increasingly, young people are criminalised for minor offences, based on the belief that punishing low-level disorder prevents more serious crime. In reality, this has functioned as little more than a sticking-plaster solution for neglected communities, failing to address the structural causes of offending.

These policies have also disproportionately targeted minoritised groups, who are often more likely to live in deprived areas as a result of systemic inequality. Higher rates of criminalisation in such communities do not indicate an inherent predisposition to crime but rather reflect the social and economic conditions imposed upon them.

An establishment that has spent years pushing austerity – and continues to do so under this Labour government – keeps blaming individuals. All the while MPs ignore that this reflects a much bigger, structural problem in the UK.

This X account sums up the failures by this government which is coincidentally is doing precious little to address:

The Labour Party is currently an absolute shitshow and most people have already written them off.

But even this broken, hated government could still stop Reform from steamrolling everything in 2029.

Here’s what they’d actually have to do (whether they’ve got the balls is…

— Thanos Angelopoulos (@Th_Angelopoulos) February 6, 2026

Of particular note, they say:

Pump serious money into exactly those same left-behind places: vocational training centres, youth clubs, actual green factories, rebuild town centres, buses that turn up, green spaces, properly funded schools and social services.

Prevention is better than cure

Nevertheless, David Lammy does take a positive step in this white paper by seeking to reduce the long-term consequences of criminalising young people. However, it remains a measly ‘sticking plaster’ solution. It ignores the much-needed investment in young people, in society as a whole, and in any real prospect of social mobility for young people.

Instead of blaming families for youth crime, the government should improve the conditions those families are forced to live in. Better housing, security and opportunity would do far more to reduce offending. Improving these issues will improve wellbeing, mental health and the future prospects of entire families.

Finally, it has to be said: MPs are gaslighting children when they blame family poverty for behaviour. Instead, they should be facing up to the state policies that drive their lived deprivation in the first place.

That needs calling out – clearly, and by all of us.

Featured image via Getty Images/Dan Kitwood