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Juveniles’ journey at the Police Station!

This article highlights the rules and procedures that juveniles should follow when they end up at the police station. SMQ’s team of criminal law solicitors often handles similar processes and is always very understanding of its youthful clients.

Juveniles at the Police Station

The initial stage of the process for a juvenile who ends up at a police station is to inform someone of their arrest in accordance with section 56(1) Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. Then, the Custody Officer must if reasonably practicable find out the person who is responsible for the juvenile’s welfare which may be a parent/guardian, Local Authority appointed person or any other person must be informed as soon as possible. The person informed in such situations is called the ‘appropriate adult.’

The key roles and responsibilities of an appropriate adult are as follows:

  1. to support, advise and assist the suspect, particularly when being questioned;
  2. ensure suspect understands his rights whilst at the police station, and the role played by the appropriate adult in protecting those rights;
  3. to observe whether police are acting properly, fairly and with respect for the rights of the suspect; and
  4. to assist with communication between suspect and police.

Whereas, if they are under a court order then reasonable steps should be taken to inform the responsible officer.

The second stage of the process includes interviewing, identification procedures, samples and charging. In accordance with Code C, paragraph 10.12, the caution must be reiterated in the presence of the appropriate adult, and Code C, paragraph 11.15, prohibits asking a juvenile to provide a written statement or record an interview without the presence of the appropriate adult. The appropriate adult plays a crucial role throughout the interview by providing advice to the juvenile, ensuring that it is performed fairly, and facilitating communication to assist the juvenile.

When it comes to the identification procedure the age of the juvenile should be taken into consideration. If a juvenile is 14 or over then consent is required from both the child and the adult. Whereas, if the juvenile is under 14 years old then consent is required from the adult only.

In relation to intimate samples it can only be taken with consent from an inspector or above.

Regarding the charging process there are a range of options available that are the same as for adult suspects. A juvenile can be kept in custody if police have a reasonable belief that they should be detained for their own interests.

Bail procedure

If the juvenile has not been convicted of any offence, he/she has a right to be granted bail unless certain exceptions apply. If the court thinks that you are likely to fail to attend court, interfere with witnesses or may commit further offences you will not be given bail. A bail can be unconditional meaning that the person is free to leave the police station even if his/her case is still under investigation and if the bail is conditional then the juvenile’s freedom will be more restricted depending. However, If their bail application has been refused they will usually be kept in local authority accommodation. However, juveniles must only be kept in police custody if one of the following applies:

  1. if it is impractical to move the suspect to a local authority accommodation or;
  2. the juvenile is at least 12 years and there is no secure local authority accommodation
  3. keeping him/her in another local accommodation would not be adequate to protect the public from serious harm.

Section 25 (1) Children Act 1989 states that a secure accommodation is provided for the purpose of restricting liberty. If they are kept in the police station they should be separate from adults and ideally not in a cell.

Alternatives to charging

There are a number of alternatives to charging juveniles considered as out of court disposals:

The first alternative is Community Resolution which is the starting point for out of court disposals. This is a non-statutory disposal for resolution of minor offence through informal agreement between the parties. This is aimed at first-time offenders where there has been admission of guilt and does not form part of criminal record.

The second alternative is Youth Cautions which can be offered in the following circumstances:

  1. sufficient evidence to charge offender of the offence;
  2. offender admits that he/she committed the offence; and
  3. Police do not think he/she should be prosecuted or given a youth conditional caution for the offence.

Youth Court given to persons under 17 years old must be in the presence of an appropriate adult and the police must consider the seriousness of the offence.

The third alternative is the Youth Conditional Caution (YCC). The requirements that must be met before a youth conditional caution are stated in section 66G Crime and Disorder Act
1998:

  1. sufficient evidence against offender to provide a realistic prospect of conviction;
  2. it must be determined that a YCC should be given to offender;
  3. offender admits to having committed the offence;
  4. effect of YCC must be explained to offender and he/she must be warned that failure to comply may result in prosecution for original offence (if 16 or under, explanation and warning must be in presence of Appropriate Adult); and
  5. offender must sign a document containing details of the offence, his/her admission, consent to be given a YCC and details of the conditions attached

The conditions must have one of: rehabilitation, reparation, punishment as objective and must be capable of being completed in 16 weeks from date of offence if summary offence. Whereas with a longer period for either way and indictable offences but must not exceed 20 weeks. The youth caution conditional cautions given to under 17 year olds must be in the presence of the appropriate adult.

Effects of youth cautions and conditional cautions

Advantages of accepting such cautions:

  1. avoids client being charged with offence and having to appear at Youth Court;
  2. such cautions are not criminal convictions.

Some consequences of accepting such cautions:

  1. record retained by police (fingerprints, DNA, photographs taken);
  2. caution will form part of a client’s criminal record as it is an admission of guilt and may be referred to in a Criminal Record Bureau check. Caution will also be considered at any future offending disposal;
  3. may need to be disclosed to employer or prospective employer;

To conclude, this is a summary of the juveniles’ journey at a police station. If none of these out of court disposals are applicable, the next step would be a court hearing either at the Magistrates or Crown Court to be sentenced for the offence committed.

Advice from our Criminal Law Solicitors

If you have any questions regarding this article or any other matter regarding Juveniles and the Police please get in touch with our criminal law solicitors who form part of our team of family law solicitors