Youth offending service
The aim of the youth offending service (YOS) is to work with young people and the community to prevent offending by children and young people.
The YOS is made up of staff from the council, police, probation service and health, coming together to form a multi-agency team.
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Youth Opportunity Fund
The YOF is a fund administered by young people, for young people in Lambeth. Young people can apply for grants from 1,500 to 4,000 for revenue/activities and up to 10,000 for capital projects.
If you have a young person who might be interested in joining our panel please contact Anne on 07939 574899. We are friendly, inclusive and have a buddying system to support new members to feel welcome.
What we do
The YOS works with children, young people, their families and the wider community. Services include
- assistance with parenting skills
- multi-agency approach to community safety
- providing a clear strategy for ensuring that young people and their families are responsible for their actions
- programmes for young people to prevent re-offending
- reparation to the victim of the offence or the community at large
- support for young people who misuse drugs or alcohol
- education with young people not in full-time education
- organising and supervising leisure programmes
- truancy
Action plan orders
The action plan order was created by the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act as a way of dealing with young people between the ages of 10 and 17 who have to be dealt with by the Youth Court.
It is a community sentence that is intended to offer an early opportunity for work and/or support to help prevent further offending. The action plan order lasts for three months from the date of the order being made.
Specific requirements of an action plan order may include:
- participation in activities
- attendance at offence focused work groups
- attendance at an attendance centre
- staying away from specified places
- monitored school attendance
- reparation, either to the victim of the offence or to the community as a whole
- attendance at a review hearing at the Youth Court
What will happen if the young person fails to co-operate?
At most, two warnings within the period of the order may be given before breach proceedings, which involve the young person being returned to court, are taken.
Final warning
The final warning was created by the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act as a way of dealing with offences committed by young people aged 10 to 17, provided that the offence is not so serious that it needs to go to court.
It was introduced in an effort to encourage young people to take responsibility for their criminal actions and to keep them from committing further offences. A young person arrested for a further offence within two years will virtually always go to court.
The final warning:
- aims to prevent re-offending by ensuring that the young person is made aware of the consequences and impact of criminal activity
- aims to take into account the wishes and feelings of victims of crime
- aims to find out the reason for the offence, and do something about the things in the young person's life, which create a risk of further offending
Youth offending teams have been set up in every local authority to work with police officers on final warnings to ensure that these aims are met and to prevent offending by children and young people.
Court procedures
There are two main ways of being brought to court after having committed an offence:
- being held in police cells and produced for court on the next available day
- being released by the police and bailed to appear in court on a certain day
What should I do if I have to go to court?
The first thing you should do if you have to go to court is to get a solicitor. If you cannot afford to pay for a solicitor, you should be eligible for legal aid, which covers a solicitor's fees. If you still don't have a solicitor by the time you get to court, you should ask at court for the duty solicitor.
Who else will be in the court?
The usher, the clerk, the prosecutor, your defence, the youth offending service and the magistrates.
What will happen if I plead guilty to an offence?
If a young person pleads guilty, the court has various options open to it: absolute discharge, hospital order, referral order or custody.
What happens if I plead not guilty to an offence?
In this case, the defence and the prosecution will probably ask for the case to be adjourned for a pre trial review, where the clerk of the court will set a date for the trial.
At the trial itself, once all of the prosecution case has been laid, the defence will start its case by calling its list of witnesses. This is then repeated, with the defence going first.
When this process has been completed, the magistrates will leave the court to discuss all of the evidence that they have heard and to decide whether or not the young person is guilty.
What happens if I am found guilty?
An order will be made by the court to determine the appropriate punishment.
Implementation of orders
An order is made by the courts when someone is found guilty of an offence. It details what punishment people must receive for their offences.
A community sentence, or a non-custodial sentence, means that people serve their punishment in the community.
When young people first get into trouble, behave anti-socially or commit minor offences, they can be dealt with outside of the court system. If children are behaving anti-socially, the police and local authority can use a variety of pre-court orders including:
- Acceptable Behaviour Contracts
- Anti-Social Behaviour Orders
- Local Child Curfews
- Child Safety Orders
If young people have committed a first or second minor offence, a system of reprimands and final warnings can be used by the police. The purpose of these is to stop young people getting sucked into the youth justice system too early, whilst still offering them the help and support they need to stop offending.
For further information, see the referral orders and youth offender panels - guidance for courts, youth offending teams and youth offender panels document available on the Home Office website.
YISP’s are multi-agency planning groups that seek to prevent offending and anti-social behaviour by offering support services to high-risk 8-13 year olds and their families.