NCJ Number
172298
Date Published
1995
Length
78 pages
Annotation
This report covers the first year of the British Howard League's 3-year Troubleshooter project, which has sought to provide an independent body to log, monitor, and intervene in cases where 15-year-olds (the youngest individuals for whom prison custody is an option) have been remanded or sentenced to prison.
Abstract
The project has three direct objectives. The "rescue" objective is to remove 15-year-olds from Prison Service custody as quickly as possible following their admission. The process is different for those who are remanded and those who are sentenced. In the case of those remanded, it may only mean alerting youth justice teams to their client's plight, providing everyone with the necessary information, arguments, and support, or to provide advice on the legality of the court's decision. When a custodial sentence has been given, the options are fewer. The project workers negotiate with the prison authorities, preferably alongside statutory agencies, to secure temporary release on license. The research objective of the project monitors the cases of 15 year-olds remanded or sentenced to penal custody, and the advocacy objective involves the provision of advocacy services to youth while they remain in prison custody. This report provides data on Troubleshooter interventions as well as narrative descriptions of some of the project cases. An 18-item bibliography and appended supplementary information, including courts within the project sending 15-year-olds to custody and data and information on 15-year-olds in the criminal justice system in England and Wales