Summary
There are two sections of the new sentencing guidelines which align to the RCPCH's work on children's rights. These are:
- Sentencing children and young people guideline
- Allocation guideline
The consultation asks respondents to consider the following:
- Changing the name of all guidelines for sentencing under 18s to use the term 'children' rather than 'children and young people' in order to ensure children and their rights are adequately recognised within the justice system
- Changing all references to offenders aged under 18 throughout sentencing guidelines and supporting materials to 'child' or 'children'
- Adding the following note to the beginning of the Sentencing children and young people guideline:
Note: This guideline applies to sentencing those aged under 18 at the date of finding of guilt, but many of the principles will also be relevant to sentencing young adults. Where an offender has turned 18 between the commission of the offence and conviction the court should take as its starting point the sentence likely to have been imposed on the date at which the offence was committed, but applying the purposes of sentencing adult offenders. See paragraphs 6.1 to 6.3 below.
Our response
RCPCH wholly supports both of the proposed amends to better clarify that children who enter the criminal justice processes do not lost their status as children, and the specific rights afforded to them by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We believe it is imperative that the justice system as a whole considers how it protects children’s rights and ensures that everybody working in the system is clear when they are working with, or making decisions about, a child.