Youth justice in England and Wales


Youth justice system in England and Wales comprises the organs and processes that are used to prosecute, convict and punish persons under 18 years of age who commit criminal offences. The principal aim of the youth justice system is to prevent offending by children and young persons.

Criminal law

Age of criminal responsibility

Children are irrefutably presumed to be incapable of committing an offence. Prior to 1998, a child aged between 10 and 13 was presumed under doli incapax to be incapable of committing an offence unless the prosecution were able to prove that the child knew the difference between right and wrong, although a range of mitigating factors particular to childhood are normally taken into account in England and Wales Now, children aged between 10 and 17 are capable of committing offences and it is not possible for a child to avoid liability by showing that they do not know the difference between right and wrong. However, a child should not be found guilty if they are unfit to plead.
In exceptional circumstances, most notably the case of the murder of James Bulger in Liverpool in 1993, children can be tried as an adult in an adult court.
From the age of 18 onwards, individuals are then considered an adult in the eyes of the law. Therefore, all punishment given by the courts or other law enforcement agencies will rest solely upon them.

Criminal procedure before trial

Arrest

After a person aged ten to 17 has been arrested and taken to a police station, to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 requires that the custody officer ascertain the identity of a parent, guardian, Local Authority carer or any other person who has assumed responsibility for the juvenile's welfare and must inform them of the arrest. The custody officer should inform the appropriate adult of the grounds for the detainee's detention and ask the adult to come to the police station to see the detainee. The juvenile should be told of the duties of the appropriate adult and that the juvenile can consult privately with the appropriate adult at any time, but warned that such conversations are not privileged.
The convict may not ordinarily be interviewed, be asked to provide or sign a written statement under caution, be asked to sign a record of interview without an appropriate adult being present. A superintendent may authorise an interview without an appropriate adult if:
During an interview where an appropriate adult is present, an appropriate adult should:
The Crown Prosecution service has produced on prosecuting juveniles.
A police officer may proceed by way of reprimand or warning, where the following conditions are satisfied:
A police officer can either give the offender a reprimand or a final warning. A final warning is more serious. Once a person has received one reprimand he cannot receive a second. A person may be given a final warning without a reprimand if the seriousness of the offence warrants this course. A person may exceptionally be given a second final warning if "the offence was committed more than two years after the date of the previous warning and the constable considers the offence to be not so serious as to require a charge to be brought".
In the case of a juvenile under the age of 17, the reprimand or final warning should be given in the presence of an appropriate adult. Where a police officer gives a final warning, he should refer the offender to the local youth offending team who should arrange for him to participate in a rehabilitation programme unless they consider it inappropriate to do so.
The system of reprimand and final warning was replaced in 2013 by youth cautions and youth conditional cautions by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

First appearance

Having been formally accused of committing an offence, a juvenile will make his first appearance in the Youth Court unless:
A juvenile has a general right to bail.
As for adults, the main reasons for refusing bail are that the defendant is accused of an imprisonable offence and there are substantial grounds for believing that the defendant:
  1. will abscond;
  2. will commit further offences whilst on bail; or
  3. will interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice whether in relation to himself or any other person.
The court may also refuse bail for the juvenile's own protection or welfare or for a limited number of other reasons.
A juvenile's parent may be asked to act as a surety for up to £50 for the juvenile's attendance at court and compliance with any conditions attached to bail.

Detention in custody

Where a juvenile is refused bail, he is normally remanded in local authority accommodation. He may be remanded in secure accommodation only if:

Place of trial

A juvenile will ordinarily be tried in the Youth Court. A juvenile may be tried in an adult Magistrates' Court only if he is charged alongside an adult.
A juvenile will be tried in the Crown Court where:
OffenceDiscretionCourt
Homicide offencesmustCrown Court
Firearms offences where the mandatory minimum term appliesmustCrown Court
Grave crimes
  • offences carrying terms exceeding 14 years for adults
  • sexual assault
  • child sex offences
may
  • The court should consider representations only and not evidence.
  • The defendant has no right to elect Crown Court trial.
  • There must be a real possibility that the claimant could be sentenced to a custodial term in excess of two years.
  • The decision may be challenged by judicial review.
    		• Crown Court
    punishable in the case of an adult by life or more than 10 years imprisonmentmust if the court considers there is a significant risk to members of the public of serious harm occasioned by the commission by the offender of further specified offencesCrown Court
    Tried alongside adultAdult is to be tried in the Crown Court
  • if it is necessary in the interests of justice that they both be tried in the Crown Court
    		• Crown Court
    Tried alongside adultAdult is to be tried in the Magistrates' CourtAdult Magistrates' Court

    Trial in the Youth Court

    A Youth Court is a magistrates' court but the Youth Court has jurisdiction to try juveniles where a Magistrates Court does not have a similar power to try adults. The Magistrates and District Judges who sit in the Youth Court will receive specialist training on dealing with young people. A youth court is presided over by either a district judge or a bench of two or three lay magistrates, which must include both a man and a woman.
    A youth court is not open to the public. The victim of the crime, however, has/have the opportunity to attend the hearings of the court if they want to, but they must make a request to the court if they wish to do so. The needs and wishes of victims will always be considered by the court and, through the youth offending team, they often have the opportunity to have an input into the sentencing process.
    The only other persons who may be present are:
    The following reporting restrictions apply automatically:
    The restrictions may be lifted by the court:
    Where a child is under 16, the court must require a parent or guardian to attend court and where the child is aged 16 to 18, the court may do so.
    Due to funding cuts through austerity cases take much longer to be dealt with, children appear in court without legal representation and without an appropriate adult to support them. Reoffending by youngsters has increased and money that could go into programmes to discourage reoffending has been banked. Anne Longfield maintains the English and Welsh youth justice system is, “chaotic and dysfunctional” after nearly a decade of court closuresand cuts. Longfield urged a largescale review of youth justice, stating the youth court was, “not a child-friendly environment where you could really help a young person and is not meeting standards that we had hoped”. Cases that involve children take nearly 40% longer than they did in 2010. Reoffending by children has increased with 40.9% of children reoffending in 2017 after being convicted of cautioned. Children who got a youth caution or sentence who were black, Asian or minority ethnic have proportionately nearly doubled from 14% in 2010 to 27% in 2018. Children are handcuffed while being taken to court and locked in secure docks when they are charged with minor offences, though courts are told to put only the most dangerous children in the dock. Some children face court without legal representation or support from an appropriate adult to support. Because many youth courts have closed gang members are sometimes put in the same waiting room as rival gangs from other areas and this can lead to violence. Defendants are afraid to attend court or are attacked on arrival. Thousands of children are left not knowing what is happening for months or even years after being released, “under investigation”. In 2018-2019 in Greater Manchester police took no decisions over 100 rapes and one murder with child suspects, leaving accused children and their alleged victims uncertain.

    Trial in the Crown Court

    Generally, the same procedures apply in the Crown Court for juveniles as for adults.
    There is no automatic restriction on reporting proceedings, unlike in the Youth Court, but the court may direct that:
    Where a child is under 14, the court must require a parent or guardian to attend court and where the child is aged 14 to 18, the court may do so.
    makes provision for the adapting the procedures in the Crown Court where a juvenile is tried, to assist in their taking part in the trial.
    A defendant under the age of 18 may give evidence by live link if:

    Court powers

    The courts have the powers to pass the following sentences:

    Court process

    Youth Court process

    The local authority, if notified of proceedings and unless they consider it unnecessary to do so, should make such investigations and should provide the court with information relating to the home surroundings, school, record, health and character of the defendant and any other matters required by the court. The Criminal Procedure Rules state:

    1. the relevant minor and his parent or guardian, if present, shall be given an opportunity of making a statement;
    2. the court shall take into consideration all available information as to the general conduct, home surroundings, school record and medical history of the relevant minor and, in particular, shall take into consideration such information as aforesaid which is provided in pursuance of section 9 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 ;
    3. if such information as aforesaid is not fully available, the court shall consider the desirability of adjourning the proceedings for such inquiry as may be necessary;
    4. any written report of a probation officer, local authority, local education authority, educational establishment or registered medical practitioner may be received and considered by the court without being read aloud; and
    5. if the court considers it necessary in the interests of the relevant minor, it may require him/her or his/her parent or guardian, if present, to withdraw from the court.

    Crown Court process

    Except in homicide cases, the Crown Court shall unless satisfied that it would be undesirable to do so, remit the case to the youth court.

    Specific sentences

    Sentences of detention

    No custodial sentence may be passed on an offender aged under 21 who is not legally represented at least at some point after he is found guilty and before sentence.
    Offenders aged under 21 cannot be sentenced to prison for any reason, but may be remanded in custody in prison for trial or sentence.
    The relevant date for determining the court's powers to sentence is the date of the conviction but the court should take as the starting point the sentence that the defendant would have been likely to receive if he had been sentenced at the date of the commission of the offence.

    Community sentences

    Please Note That This Section is Obsolete
    If a court considers the offences serious enough to warrant a community sentence, and that a community sentence or combination thereof would be most suitable to the offender and commensurate with the seriousness of the offence, it may pass a community sentence in accordance with the following table:
    Offenders aged under 16
    Youth community order    		Offenders aged 16 or 17
    Community sentence
    Community rehabilitation order
    6 months - 3 years supervision.
    Normally a pre-sentence report is required if an attendance, activity, community rehabilitation centre, mental treatment, drug or alcohol treatment, curfew or exclusion requirement is added.
    Community punishment order
    40 – 240 hours.
    Normally a pre-sentence report is required.
    Community punishment and rehabilitation order
    40 – 100 hours punishment.
    12 months - 3 years supervision.
    Normally a pre-sentence report is required.
    Drug treatment and testing order
    Normally a pre-sentence report is required. The court must be satisfied that the offender is dependent on or has a propensity to misuse drugs and that his dependency or propensity is such as requires and may be susceptible to treatment.
    Supervision order
    Up to 3 years.
    Normally a pre-sentence report is required if a requirement to comply with directions, a requirement as to activities, reparation, or night restrictions, a requirement to live for specified period in local authority accommodation, a requirement as to treatment for mental condition, or a requirement as to education is added.    		Supervision order
    Up to 3 years.
    Normally a pre-sentence report is required if a requirement to comply with directions, a requirement as to activities, reparation, or night restrictions, a requirement to live for specified period in local authority accommodation, a requirement as to treatment for mental condition, or a requirement as to education is added.
    Curfew order
    2–12 hours in any one day
    Maximum 6 months duration    		Curfew order
    2–12 hours in any one day
    Maximum 6 months duration
    Exclusion orderExclusion order
    Attendance centre orderAttendance centre order
    Action plan order
    3 month action plan.
    A written report made by a local probation board officer is required.    		Action plan order
    3 month action plan.
    A written report made by a local probation board officer is required.

    Where a court should normally obtain a pre-sentence report, it may dispense with this requirement if it considers it unnecessary to do so. In respect of offenders under 18, it may only dispense with the report if a current offence is triable on indictment or the court has had reference to the most recent previous pre-sentence report for the offender.

    Referral orders

    Under certain circumstances, a Youth Court must or may make a referral to a local youth offender panel. The panel should seek to agree a "contract", a programme of behaviour, with the young offender. If a contract cannot be agreed, the young offender panel refers the offender back to the court. The length of the programme is determined by the court when making the reference and must be between three months and one year. of the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 2000 makes the following provision about the contents of the contract:

    The terms of the programme may, in particular, include provision for any of the following—
    The programme may not, however, provide—
    for the electronic monitoring of the offender's whereabouts; or
    for the offender to have imposed on him any physical restriction on his movements.

    Referral orders will be considered only if:
    If the above conditions are satisfied and the offender has pleaded guilty to all of the offences before the court and one of them is punishable by imprisonment, the court must make a referral order. If otherwise the above conditions are satisfied and the offender has pleaded guilty to at least one offence before the court and not-guilty to another, the court may make a referral order.
    If a court has made a referral order, it may not at the same time:
    Other than in respect of a conviction for murder, and having received a report indicating the type of work suitable and the attitude of the victim, the offender may be ordered by the court to make reparation by making reparation to certain persons or to the community at large, so long as this does not involve more than 24 hours work. A reparation order may not be made where a community sentence or custodial sentence is passed.