Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract This concluding chapter reflects on the empirical findings and returns to the question posed in the preface: ‘How far have we really come in the fifty years since the Confait suspects were in police detention? I consider the effect of the identified lack of progress in adjusting the police custody process for children and assess why there have not been greater advances. The chapter closes with a call for widescale retrenchment of the use of police custody for children and proposals for a child first approach for those children who must be detained. The ramifications of the findings for youth justice processes more generally are also considered.