Youth Court Flashcards
What are the two aims of the youth justice system?
- Prevent children and young people from offending (s37 Crime and Disorder Act 1998)
- Have regard to the welfare of the child or young person (Section 44 Children and Young Person Act 1933)
What is the age range for youth court?
10-17
What is the age of criminal responsibility?
No child under the age of 10 can be guilty of an offence.
What is a juvenile?
A person under the age of 18.
How is Adult defined?
Aged 18 or over.
Sentencing procedure: ‘adult’ sometimes means a person aged 21 or over, as that is the age an offender becomes liable to imprisonment rather than detention in a Young Offender Institution.
How is a child defined?
A person under the age of 14 years old.
How is a Young Person defined?
A person between 14 and 17 (inclusive).
What is a Persistent Young Offender (PYO)?
No statutory definition.
Guidance (sentencing council): likely to be categorised as a PYO is they have been convicted of or made subject to a pre-court disposal that involved an admission or finding of guilt in relation to imprisonable offences on or at least 3 occasions in the past 12 months.
Where is it presumed that youths will be dealt with in court?
In the youth court for nearly all offences even those classed as indictable only.
What is the composition of a youth court?
Will consist of either:
- District Judge sitting alone (as in the adult magistrates’ court); or
- Not more than three magistrates
Magistrates and District Judges are required to undergo specialist training to sit in the youth court.
Reporting restrictions apply automatically to those who appear in the youth court. Can be lifted but this is rare.
Who can be present in a youth court?
- Members and officers/officials of the court
- Parties to the case before the court (accused and parents/guardians) and their legal representatives (lawyers from other cases cannot enter)
- Witnesses and other persons directly concerned in the case
- Bona fide representatives of newspapers or news agencies
- Such other persons as the court may specially authorise to be present
What are some informalities in the youth court?
- lawyers and witnesses remain seated
- lawyers are not robed
- youth sits in a chair not in the docs and usually their parent or guardian sits next to the youth and lawyers may sit next to their clients
- rather than communicating via the solicitor, magistrates will talk directly with the defendants and their parents
- justices who sit on youth court benches are specially trained
- the youth and any youth witnesses are addressed by their first names
- youth or youth witness needs to take an oath this will be to promise to tell the truth as opposed to ‘swear’
- language is different
What are some changes that can be made to adult court to make it better for the child?
- arrange a familiarisation visit to the court
- remove wigs and gowns in the crown court
- refer to child by their first name
- have child sitting outside dock
- have child sitting close to an appropriate adult
- have child sitting close to their lawyer
- arrange for regular breaks
- avoid complicated language, use clear and simple questions
- be proactive in ensuring the child has access to support
- keep public access to minimum
- use intermediary to help communication
- use live link to give evidence
- take time to explain court proceedings to the child so they understand what is going on
What are the extra protections afforded to juveniles detained at the police station?
Attendance of an appropriate adult (AA)
If anyone appears that they may be younger than 18 in the absence of any clear evidence they should be treated as a juvenile.
Who should be informed of the juvenile’s arrest?
The person responsible for the juvenile’s welfare should be informed as soon as practicable that the juvenile has been arrested, why he has been arrested and where he is being detained.
The AA (who may or may not be the same person) should be contacted and informed of the grounds for detention, whereabouts of the juvenile and must be asked to attend the police station.
Who can act as an AA?
- parent, guardian or anyone else with parental responsibility
- social worker
- any other responsible adult who is not a police officer
Who cannot act as an AA?
- suspected of involvement in the offence
- are the victim
- are the witness
- are involved in the investigation
- have received admissions prior to attending to act as the AA
- solicitor cannot be AA
- estranged parent should not AA if juvenile specifically objects to it
What is the role of the AA?
i) advise the juvenile being questioned
ii) observe whether the interview is being conducted properly and fairly
iii) facilitate communication with the juvenile being interviewed
What can the AA do?
- Can instruct the solicitor on behalf of the juvenile
- Has the right to consult with the juvenile in private at any time
- Has right to consult the custody record
Note: not subject to legal privilege and no duty of confidentiality, so detainee can and it is advisable to consult privately with solicitor
When should the AA be present?
When juvenile is:
- being read their rights
- being strip searched or subjected to an intimate search
- being interviewed
- attending an identification procedure; or
- being charged
If cautioned in absence of an AA, caution must be repeated in the AA’s presence
When can a juvenile be interviewed or asked to sign anything in the absence of an AA?
If authorised by superintendent or above
and only if they believe delay will have certain consequences and is satisfied that the interview would not significantly harm the juvenile’s physical or mental state
What consent is needed for a juvenile to participate in an ID procedure?
Consent of parent/guardian as well as their own.
If under 14, consent of parent alone is sufficient.
What are the options available to the police in dealing with any offence committed by a child or young person?
- No further action
- Community resolution
- Youth caution
- Youth conditional caution
- Charge
What happens after a youth is charged?
Need to decide whether to grant bail or if detention is necessary.
Youth should be granted bail unless one or more of the grounds contained in s.38 exists - are almost identical to the exceptions found within the Bail Act 1976 except that there is an additional ground allowing the youth to be detained in their “own interests”
If a youth is detained for court where should they be placed?
They should be placed in local authority accommodation unless:
i) it is impracticable for the custody officer to do so; or
ii) in the case of a youth aged 12-17, no secure accommodation is available and other local authority accommodation would not be adequate to protect the public from serious harm
What is the criteria for a youth caution?
- police are satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to charge the youth with an offence
- the youth admits the offence to the police
- the police do not consider that the youth should be prosecuted or given a youth conditional caution for the offence
No statutory restriction on the number of youth cautions that a youth can receive and a youth may receive a youth caution even if he or she has previous convictions, reprimands, warnings, youth cautions and youth conditional cautions.
