Summary:

Currently, if a 17-year-old boy or girl is taken into police custody their parents aren’t contacted and they aren’t appointed an appropriate adult.

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1074003/ministers-ditch-plans-class-prisoners-children?utm_content=&utm_campaign=190712_YouthJusticeNews&utm_source=C

[19 July 2012] - The government has shelved plans to class all 17-year-olds taken into police custody as children, it has been announced. 

Under current legislation, 17-year-olds are treated as adults while held by police, which means their parents, or another "appropriate adult" is not contacted to offer support and advice if the young person is taken into custody, unless they are deemed to be “vulnerable”.

Seventeen-year-olds also have no right to have a parent or guardian present during police interview. 

The situation has been criticised by the Prisons Inspectorate, with inspection reports of police custody suites routinely pointing to the fact that under all other UK law and international treaty obligations, 17-year-olds are treated as juveniles.

The previous Labour government committed to “bringing the legislation into line” with other policies. But, responding to a question in parliament, police minister Nick Herbert revealed that changes to the system will not be made.

“Having considered carefully the benefits, costs and risks of treating 17-year-olds as children under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace) 1984, the government has concluded that it would not be appropriate to amend the law at the present time,” he said.

The statement has prompted criticism from prison campaign group the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Standing Committee on Youth Justice.

Penelope Gibbs, deputy chair of the committee, said: "It is really disappointing that Nick Herbert has said he does not want to treat 17-year-olds as children under Pace.

"Now remand law has been amended such that 17-year-olds are treated the same as other children, Pace is an anomaly. It is clear that under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 17-year-olds should be treated as children by all agencies of the law including police."

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “As it stands, if a 17-year-old boy or girl is taken into police custody their parents aren’t contacted and they aren’t appointed an appropriate adult.

"As a society we don’t consider 17-year-olds as old enough to make decisions to smoke or drink alcohol, and yet we expect them to be mature enough to handle an interrogation alone that could affect the rest of their life.

"If convicted, the 17-year-old may then enter the children’s prison estate. This is a bizarre way to treat children and it is troubling that the government has decided to continue this practice.” 

Further Information:

• UK: Border Agency suspends asylum X-ray pilot (30 April 2012)
• UK: 'Thousands of children' to lose legal aid (17 April 2012)
• UK: Youth justice reforms must go 'further and deeper' (1 February 2012)
• UK: Use of restraint in youth jails on the rise (30 January 2012)
• UK: Government under no obligation to trace restraint victims, judge rules (13 January 2012) 
• CRIN page on Child-Friendly Justice
• More on children's rights in the United Kingdom

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Children and Young People Now

Last updated 19/07/2012 13:28:07

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