It’s a question we’ve been asked by several of our local delivery partners: what is the process for a young person entering the Youth Justice System?
As part of Levelling the Playing Field’s ‘Criminal Justice Month’, we asked Jay Shortall, Youth Justice Officer at Sheffield Youth Justice Service, to explain from a practitioner’s viewpoint what happens to a child from the point of arrest.
“Anyone under-18 who is caught breaking the law will be dealt with first of all by the police. They will make a decision as to the seriousness of the offence, and that determines what happens next.
If an alleged offence is quite low-level, police can give the offender a reprimand or a final warning. Otherwise, for offences such as carrying a knife into school, possession of a small amount of a class B drug or anti-social behaviour, the young person may receive an out of court disposal.
This is where a child has admitted to an offence but it is not considered in the public interest to send them to court. They then come straight to us at the Youth Justice Service and we ensure they follow the order they’ve been given (e.g. attend a knife crime or victim awareness programme or do unpaid work).
If the offence is above a threshold of seriousness (for example, robbery, violent crime or distribution of drugs), they will receive a court order. The defendant will receive bail unless they are accused of an imprisonable offence and if there are grounds to believe that they will abscond, commit further offences or interfere with witnesses.
If the crime is considered serious enough and the evidence is clear (this can include a breach of a previous order such as a curfew), they can appear in court the following day. After non-custodial sentencing, they will then come into the care of the Youth Justice Service.
For a serious crime or if the risk they pose to the public is high, a child will be remanded to the care of the local authority until their trial date (or their sentence date if they pleaded guilty) and that time on remand will count towards their sentence. Crimes requiring forensic evidence can take many months to come to court.
The third possible outcome following an arrest is a custodial order. This is for the most serious crimes (violent crime, firearms offences, sexual assault, all the way up to murder, which would be dealt with in Crown Court) and for persistent or high-risk offenders.
The principle is that locking up youths should be a last resort and it’s a principle I broadly agree with. Personally, though, I have seen cases where a child’s home life has been so chaotic and dysfunctional that the protection and structure of prison is the best place for them.
Ultimately, these are children who have made mistakes and who are very often victims themselves. We try to adopt a trauma-led approach and treat them as children first, not simply offenders, but we must always balance that with keeping the public safe. If they pose a risk, we cannot ignore it.
I’m a former music teacher and I see Youth Justice Services’ work with young people as like a term’s worth of work we have to get them to complete to a deadline. If they miss appointments or don’t fulfil the terms of their order there’s an enforcement process where they may have to go back to court.
The most important part of the job is enforcing each child’s order and protecting the public. At the start of the process we balance encouragement with warnings about the consequences of not fulfilling the terms of the order. The process often involves managing certain risks, such as preventing them from entering a certain postcode or being near certain other individuals (‘non-associates’).
However, the other side of it is trying to creatively engage, inspire and empower each individual. If they’re passionate about music, art, sport, cooking or mechanics etc, our staff can set up ‘meaningful activity’ in those areas which, evidence shows, can greatly help reduce their chances of reoffending. It’s the bread and butter of what we do.
That’s where the ethos of Levelling the Playing Field lines up perfectly with what I try to achieve. The outcomes for ethnically diverse youth in the system are much worse than for white children, so I fully support the programme from both a sport/physical activity engagement perspective and its other goal of reducing disproportionality in the system.
That engagement process is why the assessment stage of our work is so important. There’s not a ‘one size fits all’ solution to successfully engaging a child and turning his life around. It only happens by getting to know each child inside-out and understanding what their particular needs are.
Working with a child’s family, you often get to know them very well, even though you have to make difficult decisions. You can really help them. If you can ignite their passion for something productive and positive, instead of offending behaviour, that’s when you can have a real impact."