Critical Issues in Social Work Law by Alison Brammer & Jane Boylan

Author:Alison Brammer & Jane Boylan [Brammer, Alison & Boylan, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Social Policy, Political Science, Economic Policy, General
ISBN: 9781350313002
Google: D_xGEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 32831296
Publisher: Red Globe Press
Published: 2016-07-13T07:56:24+00:00

7

THE CHANGING FACE OF YOUTH JUSTICE

Martin Wasik

Introduction

In this chapter we are concerned with the operation of the criminal justice system as it applies to defendants under 18 years of age. This group includes children (10–13) and young persons (14–17), collectively referred to as ‘juveniles’ and, in this context, ‘young offenders’. While youth justice is certainly part of the wider criminal justice system, it is a highly distinctive area in which many of the rules, guidelines and conventions are different from those which apply to young adult (18–20) and adult (21 and over) defendants. This reflects a long-standing policy choice to deal with young offenders separately from their older counterparts as far as possible. As we will see, the reality of criminal justice is that few youngsters who break the law are prosecuted and taken to court. The great majority are dealt with more informally, through youth cautioning, the latest form of diversionary measure designed to avoid the stigma and labelling associated with bringing young defendants before the courts. Youth is an important factor in deciding criminal justice outcomes because offending may, in large part, reflect immaturity and inexperience. Young offenders often suffer from a range of social disadvantage and difficulty. It is important to remember that the majority of youngsters ‘grow out of crime’ (Rutherford, 1986), and that while criminal justice intervention may sometimes help to reinforce social boundaries, provide support and assist in promoting desistence from crime, it may also have the unintended effect of reinforcing delinquency. Minor criminality in early years may be a natural testing of the rules rather than evidence of a settled pattern of antisocial activity (see further Pickford and Dugmore, 2012: 61–86).

Those young offenders who are prosecuted appear in youth courts (a form of magistrates’ court), which have a different ethos and markedly different procedures and powers than adult magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court. While the sentencing of adults tends to focus on passing a punishment which is proportionate to the seriousness of the crime committed, the principal aim of the youth justice system as a whole (including sentencing) is to ‘prevent offending’ (Crime and Disorder Act 1988, s. 37) while at the same time having regard to the ‘welfare of the child’ (Children and Young Persons Act 1933, s. 44). Even in serious cases which need to be marked by punishment, sentencing guidelines make it clear that a juvenile aged 15, 16 or 17 should normally receive a reduction of between 25 and 50 per cent on the sentence which an offender of 18 or over would receive for the same offence (Sentencing Guidelines Council, 2009: para. 11.16). The great majority of young offenders who are dealt with in the youth court receive non-custodial penalties. While this pattern of dealing with young offenders has been a familiar one for many years, there have been important political changes over the last 30 years, from an interventionist and more punitive stance taken towards young offenders in the New Labour years to a more measured policy of reductionism since then.

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