The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 Essay

The Youth legal expert and Criminal separate Act 1999 - Essay ExampleThe resolving was a collection of ideas based on the Scottish Youth Justice system, discussion sectionicularly the Scottish Reporter System.The Scottish Reporter System, introduced in the 1960s as part of the Childrens Hearing System, is a system where those involved with youth who view as offended or are at risk of offending make a invokeral requiring any services deemed necessary to put the child on the right track be provided. Those making referrals include police, schools, parents and social workers.Referrals are made to the Reporter, who past investigates the case and decides where it should go. The Reporter must decide whether referrals should be discharged with no further action, whether they should be referred to a local authority social work segment or whether the case should be referred to a childrens hearing (Arthur 2004). This is essentially what the U.K.s referral put in is, with just a few min or differences.The referral order was introduced in October 1999 as part of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. The orders primary aim is to keep first-time young offenders out of the tribunal system and prevent them from re-offending.The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 was a response to the White melodic theme, No More Excuses address that the Secretary of State presented to Parliament in 1997. The White Paper addressed specifically the issue of youth crime.Todays young offenders can too easily become tomorrows hardened criminals, Home Secretary Jack Straw say in a preface to the White Paper. As a society we do ourselves no favours by failing to break the link between modern crime and disorder and the serial burglar of the future (Home Office 1997).According to Straw, the general belief was that young offenders would grow out of their offending ways on their own. He said research showed otherwise and insisted something be done that could give young of fenders that nudge in the right direction. Thus, the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 introduced the referral order, a proactive approach to addressing juvenile crime.The office of the Reporter in Scotland would be akin to the Court of the Magistrate in England, in that they are the ones who refer a child to the family-conference style meetings - Scotlands Childrens Hearing and Englands Youth Offender Panel (YOP). However, while the Reporter has other options, Part III of the Powers of Criminal Courts (sentencing) Act 2000 provides that the referral order is to become the standards sentence imposed by the youth courts, or other magistrates court (Arthur 2004).The referral order is a sentence given by the court referring 10- to 17-year-olds, who have pleaded guilty to a first offence, to a youth offending panel. In Scotland, the age of an offender referred to a Childrens Hearing is eight to 16. The order requires the offender and his parents or carer to meet with the yout h offender panel and map out a course of action for the youth to help him get on the right track. The court sets the length of time a referral should last, or the configuration period. The compliance period begins once the offender and chair of the panel have signed the contract. By law, the compliance period can be no shorter than three months and no longer than a year. In cases where the offender was previously convicted of a crime, the