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Monitoring the Criminal Justice Act in the New Youth Court: The First Six Months, 1 October 1992 to 31 March 1993

NCJ Number
150358
Date Published
1993
Length
16 pages
Annotation
A survey of Great Britain's new youth courts in 15 local jurisdictions focused on the impact of the changed sentencing arrangements during the first 6 months of implementation of the 1991 Criminal Justice Act, starting in October 1, 1992.
Abstract
The survey focused on how the law affected youths aged 16 and 17, who the law regards as being in a transitional stage between childhood and adulthood. The courts in the sample processed 3,005 cases during the 6-month study period. The analysis revealed that 68 percent of the offenders passing through the youth court were ages 16 and 17 and that the approach to sentencing used by the juvenile court has been extended to the new youth court. During this period, custodial sentences were used slightly less often than in the juvenile court, despite the inclusion of 17- year-olds. The more restrictive community sentences such as the combination order and the probation order were used relatively little on 16- or 17-year-olds. Seventeen-year-olds were receiving supervision order sentences in the same proportion as 16-year-olds. Although these results are encouraging, the public debate mean that these positive findings will be difficult to sustain. Tables and appended study instrument and figures