Legislative change means that no youth cautions, youth conditional cautions, reprimands or warnings will be automatically disclosed on standard or enhanced criminal record checks. There are also changes the rules around minor convictions.
The Sentencing Code comes into force on 1 December 2020. The Code is intended to be a single point of reference for the procedural law considered by courts when sentencing. It is hoped that this will bring clarity to the legislative sentencing framework for children.
The Court of Appeal have rejected a Divisional Court ruling that where a police officer held an honest belief that he was in imminent danger, there could be no inquiry in misconduct proceedings as to whether that belief was reasonable.
The Court examined the circumstances in which a child was sent to the Crown Court for trial. The guidance to be applied says that the circumstances in which a young person is sent to the Crown Court for trial should be rare, and very rare for a defendant under the age of 15.
The Justice Committee report makes recommendations including a review of the age of criminal responsibility, data collection on out of court disposals and research in respect of racial disproportionality in the youth justice system.
It will not be an abuse of process for the CPS to prosecute a victim of trafficking, where the defence under section 45 Modern Slavery Act 2015 is not available, pursuant to schedule 4 of that act.
The Court of Appeal held that a sentence of 18 years detention for an offence of manslaughter, where the Appellant was 17 years and 7 months old at the time of the offence, was manifestly excessive. The sentence was reduced to 12 years on the basis that not enough weight had been attached to the appellant's youth and vulnerability.
The Advocate’s Gateway have published a new toolkit (toolkit 19) on supporting participation in courts and tribunals.
An application for judicial review was refused on the basis that there was no restriction on the power of the youth court to order a late DTO release. Therefore, the youth court could take into consideration concerns about the increased risk to the public of terrorist activity when considering ordering delayed release.
