Greater Manchester Youth Justice University Partnership

Led by Professor Hannah Smithson, GMYJUP provides an innovative, ground-breaking model linking effective practice, research capabilities and collaborative approaches - to lead the way nationally in delivering effective practice in youth justice. 

The innovative nature of the GMYJUP model has influenced the approach of other local authorities and has quickly gathered national and international attention in youth justice circles including in Australia where it has been taken up by the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Representatives from the Cheshire Youth Justice Service Management Board have stated that ‘GMYJUP is the first partnership of its kind. It provided us with a blueprint for how partnered working should and could look like.’

GMYJUP’s work is characterised by co-creation methodologies that prioritise the perspectives of young people. The partnership’s ethos is on “meaningful change”, which requires moving beyond a justice system characterised by top-down approaches, adult-devised assessment tools, and a preoccupation with risk management to a system that provides children with space, voice, audience, and influence.

GMYJUP’s focus on youth participation in justice settings has created a model of working that has extended to a large number of research projects, including:

• Getting out for Good
• The Impact of Covid-19 on the Youth Justice System
• Kicking Crime into Touch
• Serious Youth Violence
• Youth Endowment Fund
• Young People’s Engagement with Substance Use Treatment Services
• Youth Justice Board Resettlement Consortium Evaluation
• Send Project

GMYJUP has won a number of awards for its innovative work in the field of youth justice, including a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP).

It offers students the opportunity to undertake applied research as part of their degree programmes.

Dr Tim Bateman, Chair of the National Association for Youth Justice, said:

“I first became aware of the Greater Manchester Youth Justice University Partnership (GMYJUP) shortly after it was established in 2014 and I was immediately impressed by the scale of its ambition. The pioneering adoption of Youth Participatory Action Research places social justice at the heart of the partnership, providing a radically different model of how services should develop while simultaneously maximising the chances of improved outcomes for children by increasing the legitimacy of youth justice interventions in accordance with the research on ‘procedural justice’. I have been involved in youth justice – as a practitioner, policy worker and academic – for more than 30 years and I have rarely been so excited about an initiative or so optimistic about the improved outcomes that it has the potential to deliver”

Greater Manchester Youth Justice Services are working together to deliver first class services to young people, victims, families and communities involved in the criminal justice system.

The group comprises of ten local authority areas each individually responsible for statutory delivery of youth justice, including safeguarding and protection of the public. The strategic aims are to reduce reoffending, first time entrants into the criminal justice system and the use of custody in line with the objectives of the Youth Justice Board and Ministry of Justice. This work also addresses issues specific to Greater Manchester and is informed by academic research.