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THE HAMILTON SHERIFF YOUTH COURT PILOT: THE FIRST SIX MONTHS

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

The Scottish Executive has recently explored a number of options for ensuring a more appropriate response to young people who offend. A Ministerial Group on Youth Crime (Scottish Executive, 2002a) recommended the establishment of a feasibility study to explore the potential of the introduction in Scotland of a Youth Court for 16 and 17 year old persistent offenders. Dedicated Youth Courts currently exist in a number of other jurisdictions, including England and Wales, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The context for proposals for the Youth Court in Scotland was the recognition that less than one per cent of young people are persistent offenders, but that youth crime accounts for around one-third of all recorded offences in Scotland. Furthermore, persistent offenders - who have often progressed through the Children's Hearings System - account for a disproportionate number of offences and are a cause of concern in their communities. The Ministerial Group suggested that the development of a Youth Court should complement and build upon the Executive's Youth Crime Strategy (Scottish Executive, 2002b).

A Youth Court Feasibility Group was established and reported to the Deputy First Minister/Justice Minister at the end of December 2002 (Scottish Executive, 2002c). It concluded that the establishment of a pilot Youth Court was feasible under existing primary legislation. Announcing the plans for the two-year pilot, the Justice Minister noted that:

"The Youth Court is not just about punishment - although appropriate punishment is certainly a major component - it's also about addressing the problems that lead some young people to offend in the first place."¹

THE HAMILTON SHERIFF YOUTH COURT

A pilot Youth Court was introduced in Hamilton Sheriff Court in June 2003. It targets persistent young offenders in the 16-17 year old age groups who are prosecuted summarily, with the flexibility to deal with 15 year olds in certain circumstances. A fast-track process aims to ensure that young offenders are brought to court quickly. Young people who may be suitable for the Youth Court are identified in the first instance by the police, with a further sifting of potentially eligible cases by the marking depute Procurator Fiscal, in consultation, where appropriate, with the police, the Reporter and the social work department. It is intended that young people who are suitable for the Youth Court should appear before it for the first time within 10 days (and exceptionally 14) by means of custody or an undertaking to appear in court, or otherwise within 14 days of the receipt of a police report by the Procurator Fiscal.

The Youth Court is targeted on alleged offenders aged 16 and 17 years (and appropriate 15 year olds) who are resident in North or South Lanarkshire, who have had at least three separate incidents of alleged offending which have resulted in criminal charges in the previous six months and who are appearing summarily before Hamilton Sheriff Court. As the Youth Court Information and Reference Document indicates, there is also flexibility for cases to be considered where the young person's contextual background and circumstances suggest that a referral to the Youth Court would be appropriate in terms of enhancing community safety and reducing the risk of re-offending (Hamilton Sheriff Youth Court, 2003: 1)

Four of the nine sheriffs who sit in Hamilton Sheriff Court preside over the Youth Court They sentence young people who appear in the Youth Court and may seek to review orders made in the Youth Court on a regular basis when it is competent to do so ². One of the sheriffs chairs the Youth Court Implementation Group, which brings together representatives of the agencies with a role in the Youth Court to review the operation of the court. A full-time co-ordinator ³ has been appointed to service the Implementation Group and to co-ordinate practice across the relevant agencies. Whilst no additional shrieval resources have been invested in the Youth Court, additional dedicated court resources include a sheriff clerk and two Procurators Fiscal.

The sentences available to the Youth Court are identical to those available to the sheriff summary court since the Youth Court is a sheriff court sitting summarily. However the resources available to the Youth Court are specifically designed for this younger group of offenders, with the local youth justice teams undertaking supervision and case management of orders. Resources available to the Youth Court include a broader and more intensive range of community programmes than currently exist, services that can tackle the social problems which might lead these young people to re-offend and enhanced intervention programmes specifically targeted at the young offender age group.

The organisation of services differs in the two local authorities served by the Youth Court (North and South Lanarkshire). In South Lanarkshire, a dedicated youth justice team is based in Blantyre and provides a service to the Youth Court as well as a youth justice service to the local area teams. In North Lanarkshire, dedicated Youth Court social workers are located throughout the authority's area teams.

In certain respects, therefore, the Youth Court shares similarities with the pilot Drug Courts (Eley et al., 2002; Malloch et al, 2003), though, as the Youth Court Feasibility Project Group Report indicates, the differing characteristics of offenders targeted by the former require the adoption of a different and distinctive approach.

OBJECTIVES OF THE YOUTH COURT

According to the Report of the Youth Court Feasibility Project Group, the objectives of the pilot Youth Court are to:

• reduce the frequency and seriousness of offending by 16 and 17 year olds (and some 15 year olds) through targeted and prompt disposals with judicial supervision and continuing social work involvement
• promote the social inclusion, citizenship and personal responsibility of the young offenders while maximising their potential
• establish fast-track procedures for those young offenders appearing before the Youth Court
• enhance community safety by reducing the harm caused to victims of crime and provide respite to those communities which are experiencing high levels of crime
• examine the viability and effectiveness of existing legislation in servicing a Youth Court and to identify whether legislative and other changes may be required.

With respect to the last objective, the Youth Court Feasibility Group suggested that the efficiency and effectiveness of the Youth Court would be enhanced by legislative changes which would enable it to include electronic monitoring as a condition of bail, which allow for the remitting of cases between courts and ensure that remuneration under the Legal Aid scheme meets the requirements of the Youth Court process. It also suggested that evaluation of the Youth Court might elucidate whether it would be appropriate to pursue legislative change aimed at enabling the Youth Court to impose intermediate sanctions for non-compliance with an order imposed by the Youth Court or to require offenders to attend post-sentence reviews of sentences.

The distinctive features of the Youth Court can be summarised as follows:

• fast tracking of young persons to and through the Youth Court
• dedicated Youth Court staff to support and service the court (e.g. Fiscal, clerk, social work) with four of the nine sheriffs from the Hamilton Sheriff Court presiding over the Youth Court
• fast track breach procedures
• additional resources across agencies to enable provision of a quality and consistent service
• formation of a 10 agency Youth Court Advisory Forum, chaired by a Youth Court sheriff, to review the working and operation of the court
• appointment of a full time Youth Court co-ordinator to service the Forum and co-ordinate practice
• external research and evaluation of the Youth Court's operation and programmes
• ability to electronically monitor as a condition of bail.

EVALUATION

A team of researchers at the University of Stirling, the University of Strathclyde and NFO Worldgroup were commissioned by the Scottish Executive to undertake an independent evaluation of the pilot Youth Court. The aims of the evaluation are to:

• assess the advantages and disadvantages of this model of Youth Court over existing arrangements for dealing with the target group through other summary courts
• determine the effectiveness of the Youth Court in relation to process, delivery, outcome and costs
• assess the overall effectiveness of the Youth Court in achieving its stated objectives and
• explore the longer-term viability of Youth Courts across Scotland.

The evaluation is being conducted in three phases. The first phase aimed to establish an appropriate baseline against which the impact of the Youth Court within the pilot area can be evaluated. It consisted of a survey of experiences and attitudes to youth crime in the areas serviced by the pilot and an audit of existing provision. A draft report on the former has been submitted to the Executive (NFO Worldgroup, 2004) while information pertaining to the latter has been incorporated in the present report.

The second phase of the evaluation is a formative/process study of the early operation of the pilot Youth Court. This element of the evaluation (the subject of this report) seeks to document the operation of the Youth Court during the first six months with a view to identifying any changes that might be required to enhance its operation. The specific objectives of the second phase are to:

• describe the processes involved in setting up and operating the Youth Court and assess the implications for future applications of a Youth Court model
• track and describe all cases referred to the Youth Court process and assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of the methods used to identify potential Youth Court cases
• examine the appropriateness of the referral criteria and their application at the charging and marking stages
• assess the procedures, tools and other mechanisms used to inform decisions at the referral, sentencing and review stages
• assess the implications and effectiveness of fast-tracking cases in the Youth Court compared with sheriff summary court procedures more generally ⁴
• describe and evaluate the use and effectiveness of Youth Court Review Hearings
• explore issues of compliance with and enforcement of disposals made by the Youth Court
• analyse the staffing, management and inter-agency issues involved in the operation of the Youth Court, including specialist training needs arising from it.

The third phase of the evaluation will examine the influence of the Youth Court on sentencing practice, and its effectiveness in reducing offending and related problems and in promoting the social inclusion of young people. The third phase of the research will also continue to generate information about Youth Court processes and will include an analysis of the cost-effectiveness of the Youth Court model.

ORGANISATION OF THE REPORT

This report presents the findings of the formative/process evaluation of the Youth Court in its first six months. The methods employed in this phase of the evaluation are summarised in Section Two. Section Three describes the process of referral to the Youth Court and perspectives on the referral criteria. Sentencing, reviews and enforcement are discussed in Section Four, along with data from the observation of Youth Court proceedings. Section Five describes the interventions and services available for young people made subject to disposals from the Youth Court, while Section Six discusses the Youth Court multi-agency approach. Early perspectives on the effectiveness of the Youth Court are discussed in Section Seven.

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