Youth Court Department
The Youth Court is designed to be less formal than the adult courts, and has different procedures and powers.
1. What is the definition of a 'Youth'?
Anyone aged 10 to 17 years old.foem
2. Which court will I appear in?
There is a section of the Magistrates' court that specialises in juvenile criminal justice and this is known as the YOUTH COURT.
MACKESYS Solicitors regularly represents juveniles at all the Youth Courts in South London, Kent and Surrey.
If you are accused jointly with an adult and you both plead not guilty then you will appear in the adult Court until trial. If you plead guilty and your case is suitable it will be remitted to the Youth Court for sentence.
It may be argued by the prosecution that your case should be sent to the Crown Court and the Court is likely to grant such an application if it feels that your offence would carry more than 2 years custody if you were an adult.
3. What happens if I was 17 or younger when charged with an offence and 18 when I first appear in court?
You will appear in the adult Magistrates' Court.
4. Will members of the public be able to sit in the court room?
No. Members of the public are not allowed into the Youth Courts.
5. Will the victim(s) of the crime be allowed to sit in the court room?
Yes. They will be given the opportunity to attend the hearing although they must specifically make a request to the court if they want to do so.
6. Do my parents have to come with me?
If you are under 16, then at least one of your parents or a legal guardian must accompany you. If they do not attend then the case may be put off and a summons issued by the court for them to attend on a later occasion. If you are over 16 it is not compulsory for your parent(s) or guardian(s) to attend court with you but it is advisable.
7. Will my case be reported in the papers?
Possibly. The press will be allowed to attend the court but there are restrictions on what they are allowed to report and they are generally not allowed to publish your name.
8. What kind of sentence could I get?
This will very much depend on the charge you are facing, the circumstances of your case and whether you have been in trouble before.
If you contact MACKESYS Solicitors we will be able to give you advice as to the likely sentence you will receive.
When young people first get into trouble, behave anti-socially or commit minor offences, they can usually be dealt with, by the police and local authority, outside the court system using a variety
of orders and agreements. This is to stop young people getting sucked into the youth justice system too early, while still offering them the help and support they need to stop offending.
Pre-Court Orders:
Reprimand: this is a formal verbal warning given by a police officer to a young person who admits they are guilty of a minor FIRST offence. Sometimes the young person can be referred to the Youth offending team (YOT) to take part in a voluntary programme to help them to address their offending behaviour.
Final warning: is a formal verbal warning given by a police officer to a young person who admits guilt for a first or second offence. Unlike a reprimand, however, the young person is also assessed to determine the causes of their offending behaviour and a programme of activities is identified to address them.
Anti-social behaviour measures:
Acceptable Behaviour Contract
An Acceptable Behaviour Contract is given when a local authority and youth offending team (YOT) identify a young person who is behaving anti-socially at a low level. With the young person and their parents/carers, they agree a contract under which the young person agrees to stop the patterns of behaviour that are causing nuisance to the local community and undertake activities to address their offending behaviour.
If they breach the terms of the contract, the local authority can use this to get an Anti-Social Behaviour Order applied to the young person.
Anti-Social Behaviour Order
An Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) can be used against anyone who is 10 years of age or over and has behaved in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to someone or some people who do not live in their own household.
An ASBO stops the young person from going to particular places or doing particular things. If they do not comply with the order, they can be prosecuted.
Any one of the following agencies can apply for an order, subject to a legal obligation to consult with other agencies.
* Local authorities: district councils, London boroughs, the Corporation of London, the Isle of Wight, Welsh counties or county boroughs and English county councils
* Police Forces
* British Transport Police
* Registered Social Landlords (as defined by Section 1 of the Housing Act 1996)
* Housing Action Trusts (as defined by Section 62 of Housing Act 1988)
Individual Support Orders
ISOs are court orders only available for 10-17 year olds which can be attached to 'stand alone' ASBOs and impose positive conditions on the young person to address the underlying causes of the behaviour that led to the ASBO. An ISO may last up to six months and can require a young person to attend up to two sessions a week under the supervision of the youth offending team (YOT). Breach of an ISO is a criminal offence which may be punished by way of a financial penalty.
Other measures:
Local Child Curfew
Under a Local Child Curfew, a local authority or local police force can ban children under 16 from being in a public place during specified hours (between 9pm and 6am) unless under the control of a responsible adult. With children under 10, contravening a ban imposed by a curfew notice (for instance being found outside their homes after the curfew) is one of the conditions under which a family proceedings court could make the child subject to a Child Safety Order.
A local authority or police force can apply to the Home Secretary for a Local Child Curfew where a problem had been identified, for instance, with unsupervised children or young people involved in late night anti-social behaviour. A Local Child Curfew can last for up to 90 days and only applies to children under 16 years of age.
No local child curfew scheme has yet been set up under these powers which were provided by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and Sections 48 and 49 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. Use has been made, however, of the dispersal and curfew p Child Safety Order
Measures for under 10 year olds:
Child safety order:
This order only applies to children under 10 years of age. It can be applied to a child who has committed an offence, has breached a Child Curfew or has caused harassment, distress or alarm to others.
Under a Child Safety Order, a social worker or officer from the youth offending team (YOT) supervises the child. If the order is not complied with, the parent can be made the subject of a parenting order if that would be in the interests of preventing repetition of the behaviour that led to the child safety order being madeowers under section 30 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. For more information on powers relating to anti-social behaviour
SENTENCES IN THE COMMUNITY:
YOUTH REHABILITATION ORDER:
The Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO) will be the new generic community sentence for children
and young people who offend. Replacing nine existing sentences, it will combine 18
requirements into one generic sentence. Having 18 requirements within one Order will simplify
sentencing, providing clarity and coherence while improving the flexibility of interventions.
The YRO also allows plenty of opportunity for reparation to be included, giving scope for
victims’ needs to be addressed.
Additionally, the YRO will put Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) and
Intensive Fostering on a statutory footing. This will help encourage sentencers to use these
robust alternatives to custody where they are available. To promote community sentencing,
sentencers must now provide a reason if they do not use an alternative to custody for those
young people who are on the custody threshold.
If used effectively, the YRO should not only help reduce reoffending, but should also contribute
to a reduction in the number of young people in custody.
The following community sentences will be replaced by the YRO:
* Action Plan Order
* Curfew Order
* Supervision Order (and conditions)
* Community Punishment Order
* Community Punishment and Rehabilitation Order
* Attendance Centre Order
* Drug Treatment and Testing Order
* Exclusion Order
* Community Rehabilitation Order(and conditions)
It is important to note, however, that the above sentences will continue to exist for those that
committed an offence before 30 November 2009.
The YRO is only available for youths that committed an offence on or after 30 November 2009.
The following requirements can be attached to a YRO:
* Activity Requirement
* Curfew Requirement
* Exclusion Requirement
* Local Authority Residence Requirement
* Education Requirement
* Mental Health Treatment Requirement
* Unpaid Work Requirement (16/17 years)
* Drug Testing Requirement
* Intoxicating Substance Treatment Requirement
* Supervision Requirement
* Electronic Monitoring Requirement
* Prohibited Activity Requirement
* Drug Treatment Requirement
* Residence Requirement
* Programme Requirement
* Attendance Centre Requirement
* Intensive Supervision and Surveillance (based on the current ISSP)
* Intensive Fostering
Referral Order: This usually is imposd for your first serious offence. You will have a programme set up with the YOT team to
look into reasons for offending.
Conditional Discharge
This is where the court decide to 'discharge' the matter instead of sentencing you. Providing you do not re-offend during a specific period of time (usually 1 - 2 years) then nothing more will happen.
However, if you do commit another offence during that time period then you may be re-sentenced for the original offence, as well as for the additional 'breach' offence.
Fines, Costs, Compensation
If you are under 16 then the court will order that your parents pay the fine. If you are 16 or 17 then whether or not your parents are ordered to pay the fine will depend on whether you have any income and if you do how much it is. You should therefore be ready for you or your parents to give details of your income to MACKESYS Solicitors and the Court.
All sentences to the community are open to the following order:
Parenting Order
You and your parents may be required to attend a family counselling session.
9. Could I be sent to Prison?
Youths can receive custodial sentences but you cannot be sent to an adult prison. Only people over the age of 21 can be sent to prison. Instead, the court can sentence you to custody, that is place you in secure accommodation, with the following:
Detention and Training Order
The Detention and Training Order (DTO) sentences a young person to custody. It can be given to 12- to 17-year-olds. The length of the sentence can be between four months and two years. The first half of the sentence is spent in custody while the second half is spent in the community under the supervision of the youth offending team (YOT). The court can require the young person to be on an Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) as a condition of the community period of the sentence.
A DTO is only given by the courts to young people who represent a high level of risk, have a significant offending history or are persistent offenders and where no other sentence will manage their risks effectively. The seriousness of the offence is always taken into account when a young person is sentenced to a DTO.
Detention and Training Order (DTO)
This is available to the court if you are under 18 and you have been convicted of an offence which is punishable with imprisonment in the case of an adult. The length of the sentence can be between four months and two years.
Section 90/91
If a young person is convicted of an offence for which an adult could receive at least 14 years in custody, they may be sentenced under Section 90/91. This sentence can only be given in the Crown Court.
Section 90
If the conviction is for murder, the sentence falls under Section 90 of the Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. Such sentences are termed “Detention at Her Majesty’s Pleasure” and a mandatory life sentence will apply. The sentencing court will set a minimum term (also known as the tariff) to be spent in custody, after which the young person can apply to the Parole Board for release. The Secretary of State’s directions to the Parole Board (issued August 2004) set out the assessment criteria for the release of those serving a life sentence. Once released, the young person will be subject to a supervisory licence for an indefinite period.
Section 91
If a young person is convicted of an offence for which an adult could receive at least 14 years in custody, they may be sentenced under Section 91 of the Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. The length of the sentence can be anywhere up to the adult maximum for the same offence, which for certain offences may be life.
A young person given a Section 91 sentence will be placed in custody. The young person will be released automatically at the halfway point and could be released up to a maximum of 135 days early on the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme, but only if they meet the eligibility criteria for the scheme and pass a risk assessment (authorised by the Governor for those in a young offender institution or the YJB Caseworker for those in secure training centres or secure children's homes). Once released, the young person will be subject to:
* a supervisory licence until their sentence expires, if the sentence is 12 months or more
* a Notice of Supervision for a minimum of three months, if their sentence if less than 12 months.
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