Youth court starting forum and exceptional Crown Court routes

The youth courtGlossary termYouth court is a specialist magistrates’ court and the ordinary trial forum for a defendant under 18. A summary trial here is decided by the youth bench or a District Judge, without a jury. The child has no adult right to elect Crown Court trial. A first appearance involving an adult co-defendant can nevertheless take place in the adult magistrates’ court: starting court and eventual trial venue are different questions. Sources: Judicial College — Child Defendants in the Crown Court, June 2025, Sentencing Council — Sentencing Children and Young People, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51A, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51, Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, SI 2025/909, and current Part 3

Mandatory sending routes. Under Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (CDA 1998), section 51A, identify the exact gateway. These include homicide; an offence attracting the qualifying firearms minimum-sentence provisions in Sentencing Code, section 311; a qualifying weapon-minding case under Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, section 29(3); and a valid prosecution notice under CDA 1998, section 51B or 51C. Those notice routes concern the statutory serious/complex fraud and certain child-witness cases, not a prosecutor’s general preference for the Crown Court. Sources: Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51A, Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, section 29

For the firearms route, age 16 or 17 at the offence is material to the child’s minimum-sentence exposure. The weapon-minding route is also precise: it concerns the section 28 offence of using another person to look after, hide or transport a dangerous weapon, where section 29(3)’s age and specified-firearm conditions apply. It does not make every knife allegation, or every child found carrying somebody else’s weapon, an automatic Crown Court case. Read the charge and the qualifying provision together. Sources: Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51A, Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, section 29

Grave crimes: offence category first, likely sentence second. A grave crimeGlossary termGrave crime for this route is an offence within Sentencing Code, section 249(1)(a) or (b). The categories include offences carrying an adult maximum of 14 years or more, and specified sexual offences which qualify through the separate listed-offence limb. The adult maximum identifies a category; it is not the sentence the child should receive. The court considers whether there is a real prospect of detention exceeding two years. The overarching guideline emphasises that custody substantially exceeding two years must be a realistic possibility before this exceptional route is used. Sources: Sentencing Council — Sentencing Children and Young People, Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51A

The court should ordinarily retain a grave-crime case where the child’s role, mitigation and circumstances are insufficiently clear. It can obtain the evidence and reports and, if necessary, commit for sentence after conviction. An initial decision to retain jurisdiction is therefore not an assurance that the Crown Court could never sentence the child. Give a clear warning about that possibility without suggesting that custody has already been decided. Sources: Sentencing Council — Sentencing Children and Young People, Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51A

Dangerousness is a separate statutory question. For the extended-detention route, identify the qualifying specified offence, a significant risk of serious harm to the public from further specified offending, and an appropriate custodial term of at least four years, together with the other section 255 conditions. “Serious harm” concerns death or serious physical or psychological injury. The assessment is prospective: the seriousness of the present offence alone does not establish future dangerousness. Except in the clearest case, retaining the matter until proper evidence and assessment are available avoids a premature decision. Do not apply the two-year grave-crime threshold as the dangerousness test. Sources: Sentencing Council — Sentencing Children and Young People, Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51A

A further, distinct special-sentence route. Section 51A(3)(ba) addresses certain offences within Sentencing Code, section 252A, where the court considers detention exceeding two years appropriate. These are not simply all grave crimes or all dangerous offenders. Sentencing Act 2026, section 7, extended this route to specified national-security offences: the new section 252A(1A) limb requires, among other matters, an offence committed on or after 22 March 2026. The existing terrorism limb and the new national-security limb have separate statutory conditions. Check the specified offence, offence date and available sentence before sending. Sources: Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51A, Sentencing Act 2026, sections 7 and 49