Law Weblog

Major changes to youth sentencing

Saturday 7 November 2009 at 12:52 pm | In News | Post Comment

On 30th November 2009, almost all youth sentences are replaced by a generic “Youth Rehabilitation Order”. This new order is a product of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.  The existing requirements, such as Attendance Centre Orders, and fines still exist, but now as part of the generic order.

Implementation has been staggered and so not all provisions start at the same time.

Purposes of sentencing
When sentencing a young offender under the age of 18 the Court must have regard to the following:
• the principal aim of the youth justice system (to prevent offending and reoffending)
• the welfare of the offender
• the purposes of sentencing, which are

o punishment
o reform and rehabilitation
o protection of the public
o reparation to persons affected by offences.

Definitive guidelines (overarching principles) takes effect in relation to youth sentencing and the “scaled approach” will be implemented by all YOTs teams.

There have been many changes in youth sentencing over recent years, but this is the most significant.

The Home Office have produces a useful diagram to introduce this topic, it is here.

All the changes in detail can be read here.