This essay can be helpful for your CIE A levels, AS level, exams or even first year law degree. All my essays have been marked by my lecturer and given good grades! This essay was awarded top in the class marks (English legal system)
Offenders who are below 18 years old are dealt differently from adults by the criminal justice
system. Under criminal law, children under 10 cannot be liable for a criminal offence at all. In T v
UK and V v UK, ten-years-old Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were convicted by a crown
court of murdering two-years-old James Bulger in 1993. However, it was not a fair trial in
accordance with Art 6 of the ECHR. Young defendants will not receive a fair trial in accordance
with ECHR unless the criminal court procedures are adapted to allow them to participate in a
meaningful manner.
Young offenders are usually tried in youth courts. Other than those involved in the proceedings,
the parents and the press, nobody may be present unless authorised by the court. Young
defendants under 16 can sit with their parents who must attend court at all stages of the
proceedings. A young offender can be tried in the Crown Court or Magistrates’ Court if the
offences charge is an indictable offence or if the co-defendant of the case is an adult.
The youth court is a branch of the Magistrates’ Court. It must sit in a separate courtroom, where
no ordinary court proceedings have been held for at least an hour. Strict restrictions are
imposed as to who may attend the sittings of the court. The Magistrates and District Judges who
sit in the Youth Court will receive specialist training on dealing with young people. The trial
process should not expose the defendants to avoidable intimidation, humiliation or distress.
There are some reporting restrictions which apply automatically which include no report shall be
published which reveals the name, address or school of any young person concerned in the
proceedings or include any particulars likely to lead to the identification of any child. No picture
shall be published in any newspaper as being or including a picture of any young person so
concerned in the proceedings as foresaid.
Under Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, when sentencing a young offender the courts
must have regard to the principal aim of the youth justice system to prevent the offending, the
welfare of the offender and the purposes of sentencing. The aim of sentencing young offenders
is found in s9 of the Act and is similar to adult offenders. This includes punishment, reform and
rehabilitation, protection of the public and reparation.
When sentencing a young offender, the aim is normally to reform and rehabilitation and
reparation. A court cannot pass a sentence of imprisonment on an offender under 18 years old.
A young offender is normally given a custodial sentence or a community sentence.
Young offenders can be detained in a young offender institution or a local authority
accommodation. Under the Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (PCC(S)A),
s.90 an offender convicted of murder who was under 18 when the offence was committed must
be sentenced to be detained indefinitely, known as ‘during Her Majesty’s pleasure’ and can only
be passed in the Crown Court. In 1994, the Home Security decided that the minimum sentence
was 15 years. In T v UK and V v UK, the ECHR held that it was not compatible with the
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