Magistrates express concern that youth justice system is becoming too similar to the adult system

In a submission to the Ministry of Justice’s sentencing review, the Magistrates’ Association states that an increase in pre-court intervention measures along with pre-court and out-of-court disposals has led to a confusing approach to dealing with young people under the age of 18.

It adds that the available sentences in youth courts, such as the Youth Rehabilitation Order, have grown to resemble those available in the adult court.

"Some requirements forming part of community orders have been provided in statute but without adequate funding, so that examples of excellent community programmes such as intensive fostering are available in theory but rarely in practice," the submission states.

The submission calls for children to be dealt with in front of trained youth magistrates in all but the most serious cases and for an entirely new approach to dealing with children under the age of 15, who account for just 29 per cent of offences committed by juveniles.

The document also calls for the Ministry of Justice to:

• Increase the trust of the community in the youth justice system
• Allow conditional discharges to be made available for first-time offenders in the youth court
• Abandon the use of penalty notices for disorder for under-18s
• Allow youth courts to transfer appropriate cases to the family courts
• Give youth offending teams a wider remit to deal with defendants’ social issues, such as housing
• Provide more robust community orders, especially for serious cases
• Make extensive training mandatory for all staff in young offender institutions
• Get local authorities involved in the provision of youth custody places

Last week at the Youth Justice Board convention in Newport, youth justice minister Crispin Blunt said the forthcoming justice green paper offered the opportunity for real change in the youth justice system.

In addition to strengthening restorative justice approaches, Blunt said emphasis would be placed on reducing the numbers of children remanded in custody while awaiting a court hearing.