W19 Youth Court Flashcards
Age of adult?
18 or over
Aged 21 for purposes of sentencing for imprisonable offence
At what age is a person criminally responsible?
10 years old
There is an irrebuttable presumption that anyone under age of 10 cannot be guilty of committing a criminal offence.
Young person age range?
14-17 years old
Child age range?
10-13 years old
Where are children or young persons tried?
- Usually Youth Court
* essentially Mags Court
* are a form of summary trial
* youth court can also try indictable only offences
* presumption that youths will be dealt with summarily - even for indictable offences - Adult Mags’ Court
- Crown Court
Typically youth court, will move to
If young person is aged 17 when arrested + charged but attains age of 18 before first court appearance, where will they be tried?
Adult Magistrate’s Court
Key date: age at first hearing before the court
As they are now an adult, the Youth Court has no jurisdiction.
Type of Judge etc
Who sits in the Youth Court - i.e. composition?
- District Judge sitting alone
- Not more than 3 magistrates
Mags and DJs are required to go through specialist training to sit in YC
Do reporting restrictions apply to Youth Courts?
- Yes - they automatically apply
- They can be lifted (this is rare)
- This is different to reporting restrictions in Adults Mags’ Court and Crown Court - reporting restrictions are discretionary but usually imposed by using s.49 Chidlren and Youth Persons Act 1993 to prevent publication of any information which might identify the young person.
Who can be present in a Youth Court?
- Officials of the court
- Parties to case (accused and their parents or guardians) + their legal representatives (lawyes in other cases cannot enter the courtroom)
- Witnesses
- Probation officers, social workers
- Bona fide representatives of newspapers/news (reporting restrictions apply)
- Such persons court may specially authorise (pupil barristers, other family members)
Memebers of the public are EXCLUDED from Youth Court.
Public are not excluded from CC or adult Mags’ when a youth is appearing there as a defendant or a witness.
How is the Youth Court more informal than the Adult Mags’ and the Crown Court?
- Lawyers + witnesses remain seated
- Lawyers are not robed
- Youth sits in chair not in dock (parent/guardian usually sits next to them)
- Youth + Youth witnessess addressed by first name
- Oath ‘to promise’ as opposed to ‘swear’
- ‘Finding of guilt’ (conviction) and ‘Order made on finding of guilt’ (sentence) - terminology used in Youth Court and Youths in Mags’ but not in Crown Court.
Are parents/guardians required to be present at Youth Court?
- Accused under 16 = the court must require youth have a parent/guardian present
- unless court is satisfied it would be unreasonable to require such attendance, having regard to circs of case.
- Accused aged 16 or 17 = may require youth have a parent/guardian present
Guardian = anyone who ‘has for the time being the care of the child or young person’.
If Youth is under care of local authority, their representative must (or may) attend court instead, or sometimes in addition to, parent.
Parent - includes adoptive parents.
What happens if there is a dispute as to the age of the offender?
- Court will be required to determine age to establish whether the offender should be tried as an adult or a youth.
- No set procedure for how to do this - evidence can be called.
- Court is permitted to accept what their parent/guardian says but further enquiries can be made if there is any doubt.
- If its discovered the court is misled as to age, any orders or judgments of court (such as findings of guilty and sentence) will not be invalidated.
All offenders under the aged of 17 are collectively known as what?
Youths
Jouvenilles
What are the aims of the youth justice system?
- to prevent children + young people from offending
- to have regard to the welfare of child or young person
What is a persistent young offender?
No statutory definition, however, likely to be a PYO if:
- been convicted of, or made subject to pre-court disposal that involves an admission of finding guilt, in relation to imprisonable offences on at least 3 occasions in the past 12 months.
