Youth Offending Service
The youth offending team work in many ways to help
young people deal with issues related to crime. The steps you take
are listed and documents are provided to help you understand the
stages of the criminal process.
Advice and information
How does the Youth Offending Team work?
Arrest
If you are arrested you will
be taken to the police station, either charged and released
with a date to attend court or charged and kept in police custody
until the next available court, or bailed by the police to return
to the station at a later date.
If it is a first or second offence and you accept that you did
it, the police can give you a reprimand or Final Warning. A Final
Warning means you will be bailed to attend the Youth Offending
Service (YOS) for an assessment and possible support or help.
If you are under 17 the police have to ask for you to have an
appropriate adult, usually this is your parent or
carer. If they are unable to attend the YOS will send a
volunteer to the police station to act as your appropriate
adult.
Court
If it is your first time in court
and you plead guilty, you are likely to get a Referral Order. If
you plead not guilty the court will adjourn your case for a trial
to take place.
If it is not your first time in court and you have been found
guilty at trial or have pleaded guilty, it is likely that the court
will ask the YOS for a report on you before sentencing you. This
can take place either on the same day or a week later, or for more
serious cases can take up to 3 weeks.
You will be contacted by a YOS officer who will meet with you to
write the report. They will usually want to speak with your parent
and carer as well.
Serious offence
If you have committed a
serious offence, it is possible the court will want to remand you
in custody. The YOS will make an assessment of you and your
circumstances and instead of custody you could be placed on Bail
Supervision where you will have very strict conditions which you
must agree to keep to avoid going into custody.
Some bail conditions will be a curfew, living at a particular
address, not going to certain areas, not associating with victims
of offences, reporting to the YOS officer or reporting to the
police station.
If you are remanded to custody you will be allocated a YOS
officer who will visit you in custody.
If the offence is very serious, then the Youth Court will send
your case to the Crown Court to deal with. This will mean your case
is adjourned to allow that to happen.
Sentencing
Once you have been sentenced
you will need to abide by the rules of that sentence to avoid being
returned to court. There are many different sentences, which can be
given depending on the crime you have committed and on your
personal circumstances.
There are leaflets to download under related
documents which cover some of the sentences the court
can give you.
Sentences like Referral Orders, Reparation Orders, Community
Rehabilitation Orders or custody will mean that you will have your
own YOS officer allocated to you to look after your case.
On any of these orders you will need to report to your YOS
officer and let them know where you are living. If you miss
appointments without a good reason you can be returned to court
again for non compliance. The court can then allow the order to
continue, give a penalty for the breach or resentence you to
another court order. It is always best to keep your appointments
and stay in touch with your YOS officer.
Do you already use our service and need to find your
YOS Officer?
Opening times
Office hours only - Monday to Thursday - 9.00am to 5.00pm
- Friday 9.00am to 4.30pm.