The Youth Justice Legal Centre has been recognised for its work improving the justice system for children and young people, securing runner up in the Outstanding Organisation of the Year at the Criminal Justice Alliance Awards 2017. The organisation was commended by the judges for making "a clear and distinct contribution to creating a fairer justice system".

Members of the YJLC team collecting the award from Dame Glenys Stacey

The Legal Education Foundation first met the founders of the Youth Justice Legal Centre in 2014 when they talked to us about their wish to improve standards of representation for children in the criminal justice system. The organisation impressed immediately with the analysis of the problem and the clarity of the vision for addressing it. The Foundation’s Governors went on to award funding to support early work on the centre. The initiative has gone from strength to strength developing high quality training materials and also seeking to influence the regulatory and policy framework which was so important to creating the right environment for the Centre to achieve its mission. The Foundation subsequently supported the Centre to work with Social Finance to develop a business plan and has gone on to commit funds to support the future development of the Centre.