Writing Pre-Sentence Reports for Serious Sexual Offences
Date: Thursday 16th July 2026
Time: 2pm – 4.30pm
Cost: £120 | £60 for YJLC Members
Contact [email protected] for your members' discount code or membership information
A specialist workshop from the Youth Justice Legal Centre for practitioners preparing Pre-Sentence Reports for children and young people facing allegations of serious sexual offending.
This session focuses on how to approach complex and sensitive cases with clarity, legal accuracy, and a strong focus on safeguarding, rehabilitation, and proportionate justice.
Participants will explore key legal principles, sentencing guidance, and decision-making frameworks relevant to serious sexual offences, with a particular emphasis on balancing safeguarding concerns with the risk of unnecessary criminalisation.
Key areas include:
- Writing effective Pre-Sentence Reports in serious sexual offence cases
- Relevant sentencing guidelines and legal principles for children
- Rape allegations and the use of Out of Court Resolutions
- Intensive Referral Orders for first-time offences
- AIM assessments and their role in informing decision-making
- Balancing safeguarding concerns with avoiding over-criminalisation
A practical, discussion-led session designed to strengthen analytical reasoning, improve report quality, and support confident, defensible recommendations in highly sensitive cases.
Read the article we wrote for the Solicitors Journal on the issue.
About the facilitator - Shauneen Lambe
The workshops will be facilitated by Shauneen Lambe, barrister, co-founder of Just for Kids Law, Director of the Youth Justice Legal Centre, and Coordinator of the UK-wide Child Law Network. Shauneen is recognised as a leading expert in children’s law, having successfully changed the law on four occasions to improve children’s lives. She is also co-author of Youth Justice Law and Practice.