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Being Locked Up Children

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If a young person is accused of or convicted for a criminal offence and they are 15 years old or above, they will be subject to the following criminal process:

arrest by the police
appearance in court (if they are persistent offenders)
sentence by the Youth Court, whose magistrates are specially trained to deal with youth crime.

The young offender can then be placed on remand in local authority secure units or in young offender institutions, such as Wetherby.

If a young person under 15 years of age places themself or others at risk through their behaviour, they will be dealt with through the civil process. After monitoring the behaviour and consultation with the child and their family, the local authority's children's social care services may decide to take court action, but this will only happen as a last resort. If that is their decision, they can apply to the Family Proceedings Court to apply for a secure accommodation order. If the court agrees, the youngster would then be placed in a secure training centre.

The Youth Offending Team can explain more about police and court procedures. They are a multi-disciplinary team, comprising social workers, probation officers, police officers, and education and health personnel, as well as specialist workers from partner agencies such as REMEDI and SOVA.

The YOT team is available between 9.00am and 5.00pm from Monday to Friday at McLintocks Building, Crookes Street, Barnsley S70 6BX.

For more information about the services they offer, you can ring them on 01226 774986 or call in and pick up one of their leaflets.