Youth Justice & Criminal Evidence Act 1999

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/yjceact.html

The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act has two main purposes:

• Part 1 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/yjceact/yopanel1.htm creates a new sentence for young people convicted in court for the first time and pleading guilty: referral to a youth offender panel. It continues the process of reforming the Youth Justice System begun by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. That Act introduced a number of measures, which incorporate the key principles of restorative justice:

  • Making restoration to the victim

  • Achieving reintegration into the law-abiding community

  • The offender taking responsibility for the consequences of their behaviour

The Government now wants to extend these principles into the youth court so that it becomes more than just a means of establishing innocence and guilt. It believes that a conviction should trigger a wider inquiry into the reasons for a young person’s offending behaviour and allow appropriate action to be taken to tackle it. This will be achieved by introducing referrals to a youth offender panel for first time young offenders (i.e. those aged between 10-17) who plead guilty.

For further information on Referral Orders see The Introduction of Referral Orders into the Youth Justice System- First Interim Report (2000). Research, Development & Statistics Directorate. Home Office :London. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/occ70-youth.pdf

• Part 2 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/yjceact/crimevint.htm will help witnesses who find giving evidence in criminal proceedings particularly difficult – because they are children, have a physical or mental disability or disorder, or are frightened of retaliation or distressed by the nature of the offence. The special measures to be provided by the courts include:

  • Screens, to ensure that the witness cannot see the accused;

  • giving evidence by live television link;

  • excluding people from the courtroom, or galleries, so that evidence can be given in a more private setting;

  • allowing as witnesses' evidence-in-chief a video-recorded interview with the witness; and

  • allowing as evidence pre-recorded videoed cross-examination.

For further information please contact the:

Justice and Victims Unit

Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate

E-mail pvu.ho@gtnet.gov.uk

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