Guest blog: JustSpeak director Katie Bruce

Young people don’t just have potential to fulfil in later life, they can change their corner of the world right now.

JustSpeak came about 5-years-ago because a group of young people decided that they did not want to wait until they were old enough for their ‘potential’ to be taken seriously.

They could see that mass imprisonment, even back then, was one of the major issues facing our country and they had ideas about how the criminal justice system could be run differently. They wanted to do something about it right now. So they did.

Our passions are informed by our experiences. The more we know the more we want to change.

It’s no coincidence that most of our volunteers are studying the justice system at university or have experienced the justice system for themselves. It is through our exposure to injustice that we become motivated to create change. This is one of the reasons it is so important to incorporate honest national and local history and current issues into teaching.

Civic participation now looks different to a generation ago. We need to empower young people not only to have their say, but to redesign what participation means for them.