NCJ Number
140756
Date Published
1992
Length
5 pages
Annotation
England's 1991 Criminal Justice Act renames the juvenile court the youth court under which criminal proceedings against juveniles between 10 and 16 years of age and young people aged 17 years will be heard.
Abstract
The youth court has new powers when remanding juveniles to local authority accommodation. Local authorities must provide secure accommodation for juveniles remanded with a security requirement. The power of the youth court to make a security requirement, however, will not come into force until juvenile remands to prison department custody are abolished, which probably will not occur until 1995. The Criminal Justice Act abolishes procedures for remanding boys aged 15 and 16 years to custody under the "certificate of unruly character" procedure. Data from an April-May 1992 survey indicate a significant reduction in the number of juvenile remands to custody over the past few years. This survey supports the proposition that once juveniles remanded by adult courts are brought to the attention of their local social service department, arrangements can be made over a relatively short period to bail or remand them elsewhere. 1 table and 1 figure