A child who is accused of committing a crime with an adult (someone aged 18 or over). (see adult co-defendant)
What this means
A child who is charged with an adult will go to a magistrates’ court (rather than the youth court) for their first appearance. Serious cases may then move to the Crown Court. Sometimes a child’s case can be separated from an adult’s. This is called severance.
The law says that children should be tried and sentenced in the youth court wherever possible.
Examples of factors that should be considered when deciding whether to separate the youth and adult defendants include:
- whether separate trials can take place without causing undue inconvenience to witnesses or injustice to the case as a whole;
- the young age of the defendant, particularly where the age gap between the adult and youth offender is substantial;
- the immaturity of the youth;
- the relative culpability of the youth
- compared with the adult and whether or not the role played by the youth was minor;
- and the lack of previous convictions on the part of the youth.
The court will always take into consideration the welfare of the child and the child’s best interests.
In cases where a child has an adult co-defendant the court should decide to sever (separate) the cases so the child can be tried in the youth court (or in serious cases have a separate trial in the Crown Court).
Sentencing
Where a young person is convicted before the Crown Court of an offence other than homicide, there is an obligation to remit (return) the young person to a youth court for sentence unless that is “undesirable”.