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Jul 13, 2023 · A child below the age of 10 years cannot be guilty of a criminal offence: section 50 Children and Young Persons Act 1933. A child aged 10-17 inclusive may however find themselves...
- Road Traffic
Furthermore, the Divisional Court was keen to limit the...
- Road Traffic
- Introduction
- Prosecutors and Safeguarding
- Working Together
- Cases Involving Children
- Reviewing Cases Where The Child Is A Victim Or A Witness
- Code For Crown Prosecutors
- Domestic Abuse
- Child Prostitution
- Trafficked Children
- Pre Trial Therapy For Child Witnesses
The purpose of this document is to provide practical and legal guidance to prosecutors dealing with cases that involve children (Article 1 of the UN Convention defines a child as any person who has not yet reached their 18th birthday) as victims and witnesses. This guidance outlines the measures that can be taken to help safeguard children in the c...
Safeguarding is defined by Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018as: 1. Protecting children from maltreatment 2. Preventing impairment of children’s health or development 3. Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care 4. Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes ...
One of the very clear messages of the Every Child Matters report (presented to Parliament in 2003), the Children Act 2004and joint thematic Safeguarding Children inspections is that there can be considerable benefits to be gained where agencies and authorities establish close working relationships and share information. Where independence and objec...
Children can be victims of offences and can also be affected by crime even if they are not themselves victims or witnesses. A child may be seriously affected by, for example, domestic violence, even if not present in the same room as the offence is committed. The Code for Crown Prosecutors reminds prosecutors to consider the circumstances of the vi...
Achieving Best Evidence
'Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance on interviewing victims and witnesses, and guidance on using special measures' (ABE) provides detailed recommended procedure for interviewing child witnesses. The Guidance covers practical issues around initial contact with the witness, consent, when the child can be further interviewed and issues to be considered for very young children, children with disabilities or children who are psychologically disturbed. Although the guidance i...
Viewing the visual evidence
The whole recording must be viewed for the purposes of review and before the visual recorded interview (VRI) is released to the defence or a third party. The purpose of the viewing includes: 1. To be satisfied that the recording is of sufficiently high quality - both in technical (picture and audio) and evidential terms - and that all necessary areas have been covered so that the recording can be used as evidence in chief; 2. To ensure the accuracy of the record of visual interview (the ROVI)...
Evidential stage
In relation to the evidential stage, there may be situations in which the age or maturity of the child may raise a question as to whether or not they are capable of giving understandable evidence or being cross-examined. It is important not to make assumptions based on age alone. Each child is an individual and will have different levels of maturity and ability. There is no lower age limit in relation to giving evidence, but prosecutors should be satisfied that the child will be able to give...
Public interest stage
So far as the Public Interest stage is concerned, a prosecution is more likely to be needed in the public interest, if the offence was committed in the presence of or in close proximity to a child (Code 4.14). This is, of course, subject to any factors that may make a prosecution less likely to be needed (Code 4.14). The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that authorities should give primary consideration to the best interests of the child. In terms of prosecution, this means t...
In cases of domestic abuse, prosecutors should always seek information from the police regarding the presence of children in the household, the extent to which they have been exposed to the domestic violence and whether the children are subject to any orders, for example, child protection register, contact, non-molestation orders, etc. Further info...
Some children are persuaded, lured or forced into prostitution. We will treat them as abused children who need help. We will always seek to prosecute those who organise prostitution and who benefit financially from abusing children. Further information can be found in the Legal Guidance on Prostitution and the Exploitation of Prostitution.
Trafficked children may be forced to commit criminal offences while they are in a coerced situation. When reviewing any such cases, prosecutors must be alert to the possibility the child may be the victim of trafficking. For further guidance refer to the Legal Guidance on Human Trafficking, Smuggling and Slavery.
It is fundamental that the best interests of the child are paramount when deciding whether, when and in what form, therapeutic help is given. For more information, please refer to the Pre-Trial Therapyprosecution guidance.
A custodial sentence should always be used as a last resort. If offence specific guidelines for children and young people are available then the court should consult them in the first instance to assess whether custody is the most appropriate disposal. The available custodial sentences for children and young people are:
Jun 25, 2019 · Criminalising children: at what age and what cost? As the Scottish parliament raises the age of criminal responsibility to 12, the law in England and Wales becomes even more isolated from the...
Legal considerations. In light of Re W, in deciding whether a child should give evidence, the court's principal objective should be achieving a fair trial. With that objective the court should carry out a balancing exercise between the following primary considerations:
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In a criminal case, expert opinion may be sought regarding the competence of a child who can give factual evidence of something they have seen or heard or otherwise experienced as an alleged victim/complainant.
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The age of criminal responsibility (ACR) refers to the minimum age that a child can be prosecuted and punished by law for an offence. In the UK the ACR falls below the internationally recommended absolute minimum of 12 years.
