Jersey Youth Reform Team

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The Jersey Youth Reform Team was formed in June 2005 and has; issued cases against the United Kingdom in the European Court of Human Rights. Formed by Luke Small - it has also sought to ensure that there is no discrimination in the Jersey police service's recruitment policies, created structures which allow effective government to youth communication and many others.

The team having grown since its creation, is currently made up of three tiers. In the first tier there are two Executive Directors, Luke Small and Andrew Medder. In the second tier there are two boards consisting of three elected individuals on each board. Presently these are: Mr Joshua Liron; Miss Ashley O'Connell; Miss Lauren Dauny; Unreleased; Miss Kerry Sharp; Mr S Heard. Finally, there are three sub-departments.

The team has recently introduced a new programme - The Jersey Youth Reform Team Awards of Excellence, in an effort to recognise those who support young people in their personal, work and social lives.

[edit] Luke Small

Luke Small is a campaigner for the rights of youth. At the young age of 16 he was influential in getting the age of consent for homosexual sex lowered in his homeland of Jersey, and is the founder and current leader of the Jersey Youth Reform Team.

In 2005, at the age of 16, Mr. Small came to international attention when he took his Local Authority, the States of Jersey, to the European Court of Human Rights^[1]. The States of Jersey had different ages of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex. The age of consent for heterosexual sex was 16, while the age of consent for homosexual sex was 18. His was not the first case to be brought before the European Court of Human Rights, and a change in the law had been debated in the States prior to Mr. Small's action ^[2]. However, despite the Court's ruling that the unequal law violated human rights, previous proposals to change the law had not been successful. Luke brought an appeal to the Court in December of 2005. In February of 2006 he gave evidence to a panel investigating the issue, warning them that the UK might force the change in the semi-independent island's laws in order to maintain relations with the European Union ^[3].

The court, one of the highest powers in Europe, accepted his case but before it reached the court the law was changed. Some believe that the law was changed because of fear of Europe wide humiliation^{[citation needed]}.