Triage is an informal process that means a child will not be prosecuted, given a community resolution or youth caution. The child can be asked to go to Youth Offending Team appointments.
Children who get in trouble for the first time or for less serious offences can be dealt with informally by the police. If a child is interviewed and admits doing something wrong, the police should always consider out of court disposals: triage, community resolution or youth cautions. A key objective of triage is to keep children out of the criminal justice system.
Triage is recorded on the police national computer (PNC) as no further action (NFA).