Youth
The use of penalty notices for disorder for offences committed by young people aged 16 and 17
This supplement accompanies Police Operational Guidance being introduced in accordance with section 6 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. The supplement provides information on Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) being issued for offences committed by young persons aged 16 and 17 following the implementation of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003.
Title: The use of penalty notices for disorder for offences committed by young people aged 16 and 17
Author: Home Office
Series: Supplementary Operational Guidance for Police Officers
Number of pages: 11
Date published: February 2004
The purpose of this supplement is to outline the different procedures to be applied when issuing a penalty notice for disorder to a person aged 16 or 17 years of age. The reader must be familiar with the main Home Office Police Operational Guidance for issuing PNDs to persons aged 18 or over prior to considering issue of a PND to a person aged 16 or 17.
Cross-referencing with the main Guidance is required when issuing a PND to a juvenile.
PNDs
PNDs should only be issued to 16 and 17-year-old offenders for minor, straightforward offences, where the offence does not form part of a pattern of offending behaviour, and greater intervention is not needed (eg a "one-off" single incident).
All current forms of disposal remain available and the option to issue a penalty notice or deal with a case in any other way will be at the officer's discretion. Powers of Arrest, Reprimand and Final Warning arrangements remain unchanged and should be used where appropriate.
PNDs are not intended to replace Reprimands and Final Warnings. Where offenders appear to be vulnerable and in need of intervention, PNDs should not be used. Officers should use the existing forms of disposal to ensure that where it is more appropriate for intervention to take place it does so.
Guidance
The guidance is not a legal document or code of practice, and therefore is not legally binding on officers. It does, however, offer additional practical advice on the operation of the Penalty Notice for Disorder scheme for 16 and 17 year olds. Information given includes:
The penalty notice is the same as that used for adults. Officers are reminded of the need to ensure that the recipient's date of birth is entered on the notice clearly.
PNDs for recordable offences should only be issued where offenders are in custody following arrest under existing powers (Section 25 Police & Criminal Evidence act 1984 (PACE) etc.), where fingerprints, and DNA will be taken (as allowed by Sections 9 and 10 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003) and the PND recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC). An offender should not receive more than one PND for a recordable offence.
Officers can issue PNDs for non-recordable offences on the street without involving an appropriate adult, as they already can for minor traffic offences. Local Youth Offending Teams should be informed of the issue of a PND to a 16 or 17 year old, for information purposes only.
Once a penalty notice has been issued, in accordance with section 2 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, the recipient may elect within the 21 days suspended enforcement period to either pay the penalty or request a court hearing. Therefore, before a penalty notice may be issued officers must ensure that they have sufficient evidence to support a successful prosecution.
An officer may issue a penalty notice only where the offence is not too serious and is of a nature suitable for being dealt with by a penalty notice.
The Penalty Notice for Disorder scheme is designed to offer an additional method of disposal to officers for dealing with low-level, anti-social and nuisance offending. Although the scheme is not designed to cater for serious or repeat offending the penalty notice may be used at any stage in the offending career of a young person.
Evaluation
The Home Office will collate detailed data from the forces that piloted the adult scheme, and a sample of officers will be asked to feed back through a questionnaire and interviews on their experiences of using the scheme with 16-17 year olds. National data will also be collected.
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