Hello, I'm Mrs. Barry, and I'll be your citizenship teacher today.

We've got a lovely lesson to look at on the criminal justice system, and I'm really looking forward to helping you with any new knowledge that might be coming up, as well as helping with anything you might know a little bit about already.

So let's make a start.

Today's lesson comes from the unit, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the legal system? And this lesson is called, how does the youth justice system work? Our outcome for today's lesson is to be able to explain how the youth justice system works in the UK.

So in today's lesson, we're gonna use a range of key terms, so let's have a look at those together now.

We're gonna be looking at court, a formal legal institution where disputes are heard and resolved and where justice is administered according to the law.

We'll be looking at magistrate, a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, typically dealing with more minor offences.

Offender, a person who has violated a law, regulation, or rule and is subject to legal or disciplinary punishment.

And will be looking at sentence, to impose a punishment for an offender.

So our lesson forms three parts today, and we'll be looking at, what is a youth court? How do youth courts differ from other courts? And how do youth courts in Scotland differ? And we're gonna start off with, what is a youth court? Youth court is a special type of magistrates court in England and Wales which deals with young people aged between 10 and 17 years old who have been accused of breaking the law.

Alex asks, "What is a magistrates court?" And Lucas is going to tell us.

So all criminal law cases start in magistrates courts.

They normally deal with summary offences, which are less serious offences.

More serious offences get moved to a higher court.

So the primary aim of a youth court is to safeguard the welfare of the child and to prevent reoffending.

A youth court has either three magistrates or a district judge, and there is no jury.

Youth court magistrates undertake special training, for example, on how to communicate with children, youth court procedures, the impact of learning and communication difficulties, as these will all affect the way that a case is looked after by the magistrate.

In a youth court, the magistrates will hear more serious cases than they do in adult magistrates courts, for example, things like theft, arson, and robbery.

More serious cases are heard by a district judge and very serious cases can be sent to the crown court, for example, for the crime of murder.

And here we have this in a diagram so you can see how these systems work.

So we have magistrates courts and youth courts, and both of these can lead to the crown court in various serious cases.

So I wonder if you know the answer to this.

All young offenders are tried in a youth court.

Do you think that's true or false? So that is false, and that's because more serious offences, for example, murder, can be referred to the crown court.

In England and Wales, youth courts focus on balancing punishment with rehabilitation.

When offenders are found guilty, the system aims to avoid custodial sentences, these are given as a last resort, and so custodial sentences might include prison.

Sentences can include fines, which are where you pay money because of something you've done, referral offers, which is a community sentence, youth rehabilitation orders, where it's looking to change current behaviours, parental bind over, which is where parents promise to take better control over their child, and ancillary orders, which are restrictions or requirements that the judge offers that the person who has committed the offence has to follow.

In less serious cases, a discharge may be given, and this is where the court decides that the experience has been punishment enough.

So, which of the following happens in a youth court? A, a jury decides if an offender is guilty or not, B, magistrates decide if an offender is guilty or not, or C, parents or guardians decide if an offender is guilty or not.

What do you think? So the answer to this about what happens in a youth court is that magistrates decide if an offender is guilty or not.

What I'd like you to do to practise what we've learned so far is to create a list of information about what a youth court is.

The information should be aimed at young people around the age of 10.

What do you think they should know about it? Pause the video, give it a go, and when you're done, come back and we can have a look at some possible options together.

Okay.

So your task was to create a list of information about what a youth court is.

And this is just a suggestion of what you might have included.

So any youth court you will find it's for offenders age 10 to 17.

It's a specific type of magistrate court.

It has special rules and procedures and specially trained magistrates or district judges, depending on the seriousness of the crime.

They aim to prevent reoffending.

More serious cases are referred to the crown court, for example, murder.

If found guilty, an offender can be given a range of sentences, for example, custodial, referral orders, and rehabilitation orders.

For less serious offences, sometimes a discharge can be given where it's felt that you've learned enough from being in the court process and nothing else needs to be done.

Well done if you got most or some of those.

So we're on to part two and it's looking at, how do youth courts differ from adult courts? So youth courts have different aims compared to adult courts, and we'll have a look at some of these here.

So in a youth court, we are looking at safeguarding the welfare of the child, preventing reoffending, balance the above two things with the appropriate punishment that should be given.

Whereas in an adult court, the focus is more on the punishment, reducing crime, reform and rehabilitation, protecting the public, and making the offender give back.

So, which of the following is a difference between the aims of youth courts and adult courts that we've just looked at? So A, youth courts aim to punish offenders while adult courts aim to safeguard the welfare of the offender.

Is it B, adult courts focus on protecting the public, while youth courts aim to prevent reoffending and safeguard offender's welfare, or C, adult courts focus on preventing reoffending, while youth courts focus solely on punishment of the offender? Which do you think it is? So well done if you said that the difference between youth court and adult court includes adult courts focusing on protecting the public, while youth courts aim to prevent reoffending and safeguard offender's welfare.

So we're going to have a look at the two different courts.

We're gonna compare the layout of an adult magistrates court to the layout of a youth magistrates court.

And this first one shows you an illustration of the layout of an adult magistrates court.

So you can see we have a witness shown by A, we've got three magistrates at the top there by B.

The clerk to the court, who's recording all the information, is there at C.

The lawyers for the prosecution and defence are next to D.

And the court usher over where E is.

The defendant at F.

And then some other people might be included and they're at G.

And just have a look at that image 'cause it's going to be different from what I show you next.

So here you'll see there's a few more people that have been included in the youth court.

We still have the magistrates at the top.

And in this particular layout, we've got a district judge, which indicates it might be a slightly more serious offence in this particular magistrates court.

The child, who is the accused here, is where C is.

And you'll see either side of them that they are surrounded by people to help them.

So we have G, which is the legal representative, and D would be a parent or guardian who can sit with their child to help them through the process.

It is laid out slightly different in a more relaxed kind of setup.

And we also have a youth court representative at J, and they're there to help in case there's any misunderstanding about what's going on.

So I've kind of walked you through the key differences between the layout of the adult magistrates court and the youth court, but make sure you take a good look so that you can see these for yourself.

So we're gonna outline all these to make sure you've understood some of those key differences.

And there's a few extra in here that I've not mentioned so far.

So the courtroom layout, which we have looked at, includes magistrates, lawyers, and the child being all on the same level.

So if you imagine a room, no one's higher than anyone else, they're all at the same level.

There's less formal proceedings.

For example, everyone uses first names and less formal language.

And I've already mentioned that parents accompany the child, as we saw in the image that showed all the different people in the courtroom.

There were reporting restrictions.

So for example, children cannot be named in the media.

Magistrates engaged directly with the child, not only through the lawyer.

Additional checks are made to ensure the child understands the proceedings.

When a youth court case is referred to the crown court, there are still alterations made to the court to ensure it's more suitable for young people.

And remember, the youth case is only referred to the crown court in really serious cases, for example, murder.

So these alterations include a familiarisation visit to the court.

We actually go in and have a look around, less formal clothing worn by the court staff, sitting the offending child with an appropriate adult, so that's a parent or a guardian, extra breaks and explanations of the proceedings, and again, use of simpler language that we saw in the magistrates youth court.

So this is a true or false statement.

Have a think about whether this is true or false.

The only difference between a youth court and the magistrates court is the layout.

So that's false and that's because there's a range of differences actually between the different courts.

And this includes differences in the outcomes they want to achieve and the way in which cases are organised and completed, not just the layout of the room.

So what I'd like you to do is we're gonna have a look at the following characteristics and then I'd like you to sort them out into the correct category.

Which of these fit youth court and which of them fit for an adult court? So let's read through them and then you can pause the video and have a go at organising those into those two categories.

So we've got safeguarding the welfare of the offender is an aim.

Preventing reoffending is an aim.

Punishment is a key aim.

Magistrates, lawyers, and the accused are all on the same level.

Less formal proceedings.

Reporting restrictions, for example, the offender cannot be named.

Making the offender give back is an aim.

Magistrates speak via lawyers.

And extra breaks and simpler language.

So pause the video now and put those into the two categories of youth court or adult court, and then come back and we can have a look at where they fit together.

Okay, so you might put them into two boxes or two lists, that's up to you.

But if we put them into two lists like this, then you should have something that looks like this.

So youth court, safeguarding the welfare of the offender is an aim.

Preventing reoffending is an aim.

Magistrates, lawyers, and the accused are all on the same level.

Less formal proceedings.

Reporting restrictions, for example, the offender cannot be named.

And extra breaks and simpler language.

Whereas in an adult court punishment is a key aim.

Making the offender give back is an aim.

Magistrates speak via lawyers and not the adult who's accused.

Well done if your lists look like this.

So we're on to part three of our lesson about, how does the youth justice system work? And we're going to look at, how do youth courts in Scotland differ? As we've already mentioned, we've been looking at England and Wales, and the criminal justice system does differ across the different nations in the UK.

So different countries and nations have varying approaches to handling young offenders, reflecting differing views on how young people should be treated when they commit crimes.

Due to devolution, England and Wales have a distinct criminal justice system compared to Scotland.

And devolution simply means the separation of powers, so each nation of the United Kingdom can make its own decisions on certain areas that affect them.

Scotland takes a different approach to youth courts and youth justice.

The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is 12, whereas in England and Wales it is 10.

So, why does Scotland have a different youth justice system to England and Wales? Can you remember? Is it A, because of the age of criminal responsibility, B, because of devolution, the separation of powers, or C, it doesn't have a different system? Well done if you spotted that there's two correct answers here.

It's because of the age of criminal responsibility.

So we know that that's different because in Scotland it's 12, whereas in England and Wales it's 10.

And we also know it's because of de evolution.

So well done if you spotted both of those.

In Scotland, most cases involve referral to a children's hearing.

The hearing comprises three trained lay panel members.

The children's reporter decides whether a case should proceed to the hearing after consulting all organisations involved with the child, for example, social work.

The Children's Hearing System deals with most cases, but the most serious crimes may go to the sheriff court or high court.

The system is explicitly welfare-focused, emphasising the underlying needs of the child rather than punishment.

Decisions often prioritise interventions to address social, educational, or family issues contributing to offending behaviour.

If a child is found guilty, the emphasis is on rehabilitation and addressing the causes of the offending behaviour.

Community-based sentences are often preferred over custody, with a focus on education, mental health support, and reintegration into society.

Now, they have diversion programmes, and Scotland encourages the diversion of young people from formal court processes, especially for less serious offences.

If a young person is involved in low-level offending, they may be diverted to restorative justice programmes or other forms of intervention rather than being prosecuted in court.

So, is this true or false from what we've learned so far? In Scotland, all youth cases are referred to a children's hearing, including serious crimes.

So that one's false, and that's because serious crimes may be sent to the sheriff court or high court and they're not always done in a children's hearing.

So what I'd like you to do to practise what we've learned about youth courts in Scotland is to complete the table to explain the differences between youth courts in Scotland and England and Wales.

So we're using knowledge that we learned earlier in the lesson, as well as what we've just had a quick look at.

So try and complete this table, pause the video, and when you've had a go, come back and we'll have a look at what we might have put in it.

So your completed table could look like this.

So the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10, whereas in Scotland it is 12.

The main focus of sentencing in England and Wales is to safeguard the welfare of the child and prevent reoffending, whereas in Scotland it's about rehabilitation and addressing the causes of the offending behaviour.

Young people accused of crimes, where do they go to? Well, in England and Wales, they go to youth courts, and in Scotland, they go to children's hearings.

But if the crime is very serious, in England and Wales, it could be sent to the crown court, whereas in Scotland, it could be sent to the sheriff or high court.

So for question two, we're gonna have a look at these viewpoints from Laura and Jacob.

And I'd like to think about whether you agree with them or not and why that is.

So, Laura says, "Youth courts should aim to punish young people so that they do not re-offend.

Everyone should be tried in the same court as an adult.

That would stop them from committing more crimes." Whereas Jacob says, "I think that Scotland has it right.

The aim shouldn't be to punish, but to be sensitive to the young person and put in place clear education for them to understand why crime is wrong." So here we are looking at the aims of punishment.

Do you agree with what they say or do you have another view? Pause the video, write it down, and when you're done, we can have a look at what you might have put.

So we're done for giving that a go.

And we had a look at those viewpoints from Laura and Jacob and you might have agreed with either one of them, and let's think about how we might have justified that.

So you might have justified agreeing with Laura because Laura makes the point that we should try to stop reoffending and that this might be possible if we are really firm with young people about committing crime through punishment.

Whereas you might have justified agreeing with Jacob because Jacob makes the point that young people are still learning and might need to better understand the consequences of their actions, so they should be supported rather than punished.

So well done for giving that a go.

That brings us to the end of our lesson and just a quick summary of what we have learned together today.

So the youth court system is designed for young people aged 10 to 17.

It deals with less serious cases, with more serious cases ending up in the crown court.

The focus of a youth court is to balance punishment with its primary aim of safeguarding the welfare of the child and preventing reoffending.

Youth courts have a range of measures which make them more suited to young people, and these measures impact the structure of the court case and the sentence of the offender.

Due to devolution, England and Wales have a separate criminal justice system to Scotland, and this includes youth justice.