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Home Office - Building a safe, just and tolerant society
Published: 1st October 1999

Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 

Implementation

Part One

  1. When will the referral order be available to the courts?

The referral order will be piloted in a selection of areas across the country before it is implemented nationally. An independent evaluation of these pilots will assess how the order is working in practice, and whether it is being directed at the right sort of offenders. The pilots are expected to begin from April 2000, and the pilot areas will require some time to recruit and train panel members before the referral order is available to the courts.

The pilots are expected to run for at least 18 months to allow time for independent evaluation of the impact of the new order. The order is expected to become available nationally during 2002/2003, depending on the outcome of the evaluation.

2. Who will sit on the youth offender panels?
 
The panels will comprise at least three people. One member will be from the local youth offending team. The rest of the panel will be made up of people recruited from the local community in a lay capacity.

The criteria for the selection of panel members will be set by the Secretary of State through regulations, subject to the agreement of Parliament through the affirmative resolution procedure (Parliament must debate and agree the regulations). In addition, guidance will be produced on the nature and content of training for panel members.

3. How will you ensure that youth offender panel members are of the right quality?

The Act allows the Secretary of State to set the criteria for the selection of panel members by regulation. This will ensure that they have the right mix of skills and experience. Those with experience of the youth justice system or expertise in dealing with young offenders will be of value to the panel process, but it is also hoped that the panels will attract a broad representation of their local communities from among those with an interest in working with young people, and the right personal skills for this demanding role.

The recruitment criteria will be devised in careful consultation with relevant bodies including national organisations. Careful consideration will be given to how to ensure a fair representation of ethnic minorities and women, and how to involve younger people, as well as to the setting of traditional criteria such as qualifications, experience and suitability.

4. What training will youth panel members receive?

The role of youth offender panel members will require a range of expertise. The Government will, in due course, produce guidance on the nature and content of training packages for panel members.

The Government will work in consultation with a range of interested parties including youth justice practitioners and experts in training in drawing up a framework which covers both the content of training and the manner in which it is to be delivered.

5. How are local agencies to find the money for youth offender panels and youth justice services?
 
Most of the youth justice services required for the youth offender panel contracts should already be in place by the time the referral order is implemented. We are currently piloting new measures arising from the Crime and Disorder Act, such as the final warning intervention and reparation and action plan orders, which require similar services to those which will be contained in the contracts. The Youth Justice Board has made funding available to develop restorative justice schemes, and other interventions, across the country.

The Government has made money available to pilot the new youth offending teams from April next year. The pilots will assess the costs and savings associated with the referral order prior to nation-wide implementation. As part of the evaluation we will be assessing the resource implications of any new youth justice services which might be required.

6. What will be in the youth offender panel contracts?

 The Government will produce guidance for youth offender panels on the content of contracts. The evaluation of the pilots will help us to identify and disseminate best practice in advance of national implementation. However, the activities in the contract will be tailored to the individual circumstances of an offender in order to help them to change the attitudes and behaviour that led to the offending in the first place. The contract will always include some element of reparation to the victim or community and could also require the young offender to:

  • participate in particular activities such as counselling or drug rehabilitation;

  • undertake unpaid work in the community;

  • attend school or a training scheme; or,

  • refrain from doing certain things or going to certain places.

 
Guidance will encourage youth offending teams to keep courts informed of local service developments, so that magistrates will have a good knowledge of the kind of activities that might be included in a youth offender panel contract.

Part II

When will the government implement the measures to help witnesses in Part II of the Act?

We have established an interdepartmental steering group to take these forward, along with all 78 of the recommendations in Speaking Up For Justice. The group will soon be publishing a comprehensive implementation plan, showing how all the measures are implemented so that they can work together. The plan will be linked to this site on publication.

 Key elements include :

  • developing a national protocol between the various criminal justice agencies for dealing with vulnerable or intimidated witnesses, with a framework for local agreements;

  • taking forward measures to identify and reduce witness intimidation following up the local crime and disorder audits;

  • delivering guidance to improve the identification of vulnerable and intimidated witnesses by the police and provide appropriate support.

  • producing a memorandum of good practice for interviewing adult vulnerable witnesses and revising the existing memorandum for child witnesses;

  • developing rules of court to govern the new court procedures introduced by this legislation;

  • providing the necessary accommodation and equipment in the courts;

  • a training needs analysis for those working in the criminal justice system.

The implementation of many of the measures will involve consultation with the relevant individuals and organisations in the field. The group is aiming to have a plan in place this summer.

Will the Government issue guidance on good practice in dealing with these witnesses?

Yes. We recognise that we will need to produce good practice guidance for those working in the criminal justice system. This will form part of the implementation programme.

Other measures in Part II

Information on when the rest of the measures in Part II will be implemented will be added to this site as soon as possible.

Commencement

Provisions in the Act will not come into force until the Secretary of State makes an order for this to happen. Different provisions may come into force in different areas at different times. The only exceptions to this are below: they will came into force on the day this Act received Royal Assent.

Section 6(4) - Power to make regulations about the training and qualifications members of youth panels will need.

Rule making powers in Chapters I to IV in Part II of the Act.

Section 40(1) - Funding defence representation.

Sections 58 (5), 61(1-3) - Powers to make orders about inferences from silence, and extension of the Act to the Service Courts.

Section 62 - Defines sexual offences for the purposes of this Act.

Section 68 - Power to extend the Act to Northern Ireland.
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