Call for more continuity in youth court system

John Graham, director of independent think-tank the Police Foundation, said the youth justice system needs to be reformed by introducing more continuity to legal proceedings involving young people.

Giving evidence recently to the Youth Court inquiry, Graham said a key way of improving continuity would be to ensure young offenders are seen by the same magistrate that dealt with their initial court hearing if they commit further offences.  

“If you have that continuity, you can build a relationship with that young person, and through that relationship you can begin to affect their behaviour,” he told the inquiry, which was launched last year.

Graham, who oversaw an Audit Commission review of youth justice reforms in 2004, added that magistrates should also see young offenders post-sentence to check on their progress, as happens with specialist drug courts.

“The judge or magistrate can say, ‘You've done well’, or, ‘You're not doing well; therefore, we're going to change some of the conditions attached to your sentence’, or, ‘Your circumstances have changed; we therefore need to provide additional services’. 

“There needs to be that continuity, that relationship, if you're going to do something with that young person as they’re going through a position of considerable change over a short period of time, which is what all adolescents face,” he said.

Chaired by Lord Carlile, the parliamentary inquiry, supported by the Michael Sieff Foundation, the National Children's Bureau and the Dawes Trust, is looking at how the youth court system can be improved. It is set to report its findings in June.

Other recommendations Graham put forward included the introduction of a “clean slate” at 18 for some young offenders “whereby you at least reduce the time required for a criminal record to be spent, in response to clear indications of progress”.

In addition, he said there should be the option to try young people aged 18 to 21 in youth courts, with the decision based mainly on the “emotional, cognitive, psychological and educational maturity” of the defendant.

“That’s a much more sophisticated and tailored approach than one that just uses chronological age,” he added.

Graham also called for the abolition of Crown Courts for anybody under the age of 18 regardless of the crime because of the “chaotic and complex lives” many young people face.

“The idea that a Crown Court trial is going to do anything other than make that worse is absurd,” he said.