Young Offenders and Sentencing Laws

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the laws and legislations affecting young offenders in the UK. It explores the impact of various acts such as the Children Act 1989, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and Criminal Justice Legislation 2003 on individuals and communities. The report also discusses the roles and functions of courts and tribunals, including Magistrates and Crown Courts, highlighting their significance in the sentencing process for young people. By examining these laws and structures, this report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complexities surrounding young offenders and sentencing laws in the UK.

Criminal and Youth Justice -
The legal Framework

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Analysis on roles and functions of British court system.......................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Analysis of the comparison between sentences of Magistrates and Crown Courts..............2
2.2 Evaluation of the effectiveness of three types of sentences..................................................2
2.3 Current sentencing tariff.......................................................................................................3
2.4 Comparison between youth and adult sentencing options....................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Analysing various legislations..............................................................................................5
3.2 Evaluation of the impact of various legislations on individuals and communities...............6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Criminal and youth justice is a system which consists of various processes and provisions
which are developed in order to protect the interest of public and of victims. In this project
report, roles and functions of courts in British system are analysed along with evaluating the
variations between sentences of Magistrates and Crown courts. The concept of sentencing is
explained in detail in this report along with its current tariffs and effectiveness. The main aim of
this project is to compare laws related to young culprits and adult convicts. Various laws and
legislations are discussed in this report along with their impacts on individuals and communities
with the support of case study.
TASK 1
1.1 Analysis on roles and functions of British court system
According to British system, courts typically include an authorised individual who has
granted the potency to make judgements according to the disputes and claims. British court
system has categorised the courts into six different authorities based on their level of structure
which are subordinate tribunals, country, sheriff, high, the appeal and Supreme Court. All these
structures has few roles and functions which are considered as their root of justice. Three
primary roles of these courts and tribunals are to bring openness in all the disputes. Solicitors are
needed to be fair in their issued judgements and judges should be impartial so that no party can
be favoured (Browning and Caulfield, 2011).
Functions of these courts are to evaluate the disputes and issue orders accordingly. The
most primary and significant function of these tribunals is to follow all rules and regulations of
British law. Supreme Court is the jurisdictional authority which is considered as the court of final
appeal. This authority issues judgements which are final and mandatory to be followed. They
hear appeals of every party and are highly concerned with the arguable points of the law related
with general public importance. Another role of tribunals is to work under a proper legal
structure in order to follow all the legislative rules and regulations. According to the British legal
system, these courts functions to settle disputes and punish law breakers according to applied law
(Crawford and Newburn, 2013).
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TASK 2
2.1 Analysis of the comparison between sentences of Magistrates and Crown Courts
Magistrates' court deals with the minor offences and other civil matters. Primary intention
of these courts is to provide a speedy and effective judgement over the issue. All the minor cases
are handled by these tribunals and other serious ones are forwarded towards High or The Crown
courts. Offences which are dealt by this court are drink driving, theft, improper conduct and
mischiefs (Goldson, 2013).
The Crown court deals with much more serious offences such as murder, rape, robbery
etc. This court also handles the cases which are unable to be handled from Magistrates' court. It
is known as the next level authority of Magistrates. Orders issued by this form of court are more
serious and received by criminals who are convicted for a grave offence. According to the Crown
court, decision of judgement is reached by the jury which involves all professional lawyers. Both
the courts, issue a sentence which is mandatory to be followed unless there is a re-appeal in
higher authority. Comparison between the sentences of both the courts are mentioned as below:
Magistrates' court Crown court
Under magistrates' court, maximum
imprisonment is up to 12 months.
There are around 92 Crown courts present
under British legal system which has average
sentence of imprisonment of 3 years.
Maximum of 5000 euros of fine can be
imposed under magistrates' court.
Under Crown court, fine is imposed according
to the number of offences and level of
seriousness in offence.
2.2 Evaluation of the effectiveness of three types of sentences
According to British law system, sentence is the final judgement which is issued by judge
and other authority of tribunal or court. A sentence typically involves imprisonment, fine, and
other punishments. In order to identify the effectiveness of sentencing, this is classified in two
major categories which are discussed as below:
Custodial sentencing – According to British court system, a custodial sentence is the
compulsory punishment which is imposed on convicted criminal consisting mandatory custody
either in prison or in some institution having maximum security.
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Non-custodial sentencing – Under this form sentencing, judge impose punishment
which is an alternative to the prison. This sentencing is considered as better punishment. There
are various kinds of non-custodial sentencing and three of them are: Fine: Fine or penalty is the most common form of non-custodial sentencing under which
a sum of amount is required to be paid by convicted criminal in order to impose financial
burden on them. Conditional discharge: Under conditional discharge, defendant has the chance to absolve
from punishment. If the defendant does not commit any offence during the time period
stating by court then there is a possibility to get an absolute discharge. In this case,
defendant is liable for their original crime as well as for consequent crimes conducted in
that period which is stated by the court which can be up to three years.
 Youth conference order: This statement provides young people an opportunity to
understand and amend their crime in order to stop future crimes (Mendes, Baidawi and
Snow, 2014).
2.3 Current sentencing tariff
According to the British law system, tariff is the minimum fine or imprisonment which is
imposed on the guilty individual. There are several tariffs for different crimes and some of them
are discussed as below:
Assault – Assault is an act of making a physical attack. According to British law system,
assault is an illegal act which imposes legal regulations on the guilty person. Typically, this
crime imposes imprisonment up to one year but if the case involves aggravated assaults and
threats of death then the punishment for the guilty is up to 20 years along with the penalty. If the
assault is convicted by a minor then the minimum imprisonment of 6 months is imposed along
with penalty.
Kidnapping – Kidnapping is an offence of abducting someone and confining them
against their will. This offence is considered as a serious crime and typically result into
imprisonment. Minimum sentence in the case of kidnapping is 5 years of imprisonment when the
offence is considered as first degree while in the second degree of kidnapping, minimum
sentence is 20 years of imprisonment (Murray, 2011).
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Perjury – Perjury is an act of conveying false statement either orally or written which is
concerned to official proceedings. According to British law system, maximum imprisonment for
this offence is of 7 years or the penalty.
2.4 Comparison between youth and adult sentencing options
Youth culprits are not treated the same as adults. There are different sentencing laws for
young convicts. Based on the British legal system, young people are considered which are in
between the age of 10 to 17 years (PITTS, 2013).
Adult sentencing system is much more rigid than young system. Adult culprits are the
people aged 17 years and above. These two sentencing systems vary from each other and some
of their differences are mentioned as below:
Type of sentence Young sentencing Adult sentencing
Fine Under young sentencing system, fine
or penalty which is imposed on the
criminal aged under 16 years has no
responsibility to pay any amount of the
fine. Their parents or guardians are
responsible to pay the fine amount.
In case of adult sentencing, the
culprit is itself liable to pay their
amount of penalty or fine.
Custodial
sentences
Young culprits only receive custodial
sentences when there is some serious
offence commitment. If a convict is in
between the age of 12-17 years then
they are eligible for the detention and
training centre. If any young individual
aged at least 14 years has committed a
serious offence, he they will be liable
for the imprisonment listed under
section 91 of the Powers of Criminal
Courts(Sentencing) Act, 2000.
Whereas, laws are relatively rigid
for adult guilty people. They are
liable for the order issues by court
whether that judgement involves
life imprisonment.
Option sentencing Option sentencing is the process of In case of adult sentencing, culprit
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selecting a punishment from given
alternatives. In this case, parents or
guardians of the young culprit have the
right to choose their option sentence
(Young sentencing, 2018).
has a right to choose sentence from
the given alternatives. For example:
a convict of assault has the right to
choose in between imprisonment or
fine.
TASK 3
3.1 Analysing various legislations
Criminal justice legislation – Criminal Justice Act, 2003 is an act of the parliament of
United Kingdom. The main aim of this act is to make provisions about criminal justice which
includes dealing with culprits and regular amending suitable provisions related to civil
proceedings. In this act, there are various provisions present which protect the interest of victims
and their families. Under this, a minimum of 15 years sentence is imposed for the crimes such as
murder and extends the eligibility of jury such as solicitors and police officers (Sharpe, 2013).
Case study related to Domestic abuse and Murder
In the beginning of 21st century, a case related to domestic abuse came up in which
Kiranjit Ahluwalia had been abused for over a decade by her violent husband. Due to slow burn
and anger, she murdered her husband in his sleep and this case was influenced by the concept of
feminism. Although, the final decision sets a benchmark for tackling cases of gender bias.
Ahluwalia's conviction was reduced to homicide.
Crime and disorder legislation – Crime and Disorder Act, 1998 is an act of parliament of
United Kingdom. Main aim of this act is to prevent crime and disorder as well as to abolish the
thought that a child is incapable of conducting a crime. This act works to respect various
remands and committals for trial and release. Primary and main provision of this act is to abolish
the assumption that a child aged 10-13 is incapable to criminal intent. It has created two schemes
for youth crime, that is, child safety orders and parenting orders (Smith, 2013).
Child protection legislation – Child protection is the part of Children Act, 1989 which
has the primary aim of creating provisions related to services provided to and for children and
young people. Various provisions of this act are to create a post for commissioner who will look
after matters of state's children and to enable the government to create an electronic record of
every child of United Kingdom.
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3.2 Evaluation of the impact of various legislations on individuals and communities
Criminal justice legislation – This law impacts individuals in a positive way as it is
concerned with imposing punishments to the guilty convicts in order to protect interest of
victims. Not only individuals but overall community is also benefited with this legislation.
Crime and disorder legislation – This act concerns with the assumption that children
aged in between 10-13 years are incapable of crime intent. This act impacts both the child and
their parents in better conduction of parenting process.
Child protection legislation – This act is concerned with the protection of children of
United Kingdom. This act imposes positive impact on society as it works for community and
creates a whole database for the children (Snow and Powell, 2012).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that the sentences and laws vary when it
comes to young convicts. Several laws such Children Act, 1989, Crime and disorder act 1998
and Criminal justice legislation, 2003 have various impacts on the individuals. Roles and
functions of courts and tribunals are discussed in order to discuss their significance. Two
jurisdictional structures are discussed in order to contrast them such as Magistrates and Crown
courts. This report concludes the effectiveness of sentences by discussing their current tariffs in
United Kingdom. In British law system, laws for adults and young people are different as the
capability of committing crime also varies. Laws and legislations have few positive as well as
few negative influences on the individuals and communities.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Browning, A. and Caulfield, L., 2011. The prevalence and treatment of people with Asperger’s
Syndrome in the criminal justice system. Criminology & Criminal Justice. 11(2). pp.165-
180.
Crawford, A. and Newburn, T., 2013. Youth offending and restorative justice. Willan.
Goldson, B., 2013. ‘Unsafe, unjust and harmful to wider society’: Grounds for raising the
minimum age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales. Youth justice. 13(2).
pp.111-130.
Mendes, P., Baidawi, S. and Snow, P. C., 2014. Young people transitioning from out-of-home
care in Victoria: Strengthening support services for dual clients of child protection and
youth justice. Australian Social Work. 67(1). pp.6-23.
Murray, J., Loeber, R. and Pardini, D., 2012. Parental involvement in the criminal justice system
and the development of youth theft, marijuana use, depression, and poor academic
performance. Criminology. 50(1). pp.255-302.
Nelken, D. ed., 2011.Comparative criminal justice and globalization. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
PITTS, N. L. J., 2013. The new correctionalism: young people, youth justice and New Labour. In
Crime, Disorder and Community Safety (pp. 177-202). Routledge.
Sharpe, G., 2013. Offending girls: Young women and youth justice. Willan.
Smith, R., 2013. Youth justice: Ideas, policy, practice. Routledge.
Snow, P. and Powell, M., 2012. Youth (in) justice: Oral language competence in early life and
risk for engagement in antisocial behaviour in adolescence. Trends and Issues in Crime
and Criminal Justice. 435. pp.1-6.
Online
Young sentencing. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/about-sentencing/young-people-and-sentencing/
types-of-sentences-for-young-people/>.
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