As we await the release of the Netflix series Adolescence this evening by award winning writer Jack Thorne, I am interested to see how the series will deal with very real, yet often publicly unheard problems of how our criminal justice system, in particular the police, manage children who are alleged to have committed extremely serious offences.
I specialise in defending children as a criminal lawyer and regularly witness the parents of my clients struggling to come to terms with the fact that arrest, investigation or in extreme cases prosecution is “happening to them”. It is easy to assume that your child, who is the apple of your eye and who has perhaps benefited from good schooling or a privileged upbringing, would never become involved with the police. Surely that only happens to children who haven’t been so fortunate? Our experience is that wealth and privilege do not protect your child from being in conflict with the law. A criminal allegation can be made against anyone at any time, no matter what their circumstances.
In a world where it is impossible to completely control what our children are exposed to online and where we are all encouraged to speak up for our individual rights, the risk of criminal complaints being made by children against other children in schools, playgrounds, chatrooms, gaming communities, sports teams (the possibilities are endless) is rife. I frequently watch parents blame themselves for the fact that their child is facing a criminal allegation – “We should have seen the signs”, “should have had more rules”, “should have had better internet security” are common refrains. The truth is, it is rare that I have thought my client would have avoided a police station situation, if their parents had only done something differently. There are too many risk factors in the climate we live in today, to be able to control and prevent all of them.
The teasers shared for Adolescence suggests that it will deal with “the ordinary family’s worst nightmare”, and how the police appear to disregard the fact that the defendant who is the subject of the drama, is a 13-year-old child. It is not uncommon for the police to appear to disregard the permanent detrimental impact a criminal investigation can have on a child. From the moment a child is arrested their future, their parents’ livelihoods and even their siblings’ futures are at stake.
The Police should consider whether an arrest is necessary and proportionate in each case. Indeed, if the legislation, case law and guidance were properly applied on every occasion, it would be rare that children are arrested at all. However, time and time again I have to remind the police that the arrest of a child is rarely necessary or fair and can easily be avoided by using voluntary interviews, or diversions away from the criminal justice system.
There are a number of protective measures available for children in the criminal justice system which I anticipate we will see throughout the series. A non-exhaustive list includes; An Appropriate Adult should be at the police station (an adult who helps protect their rights and facilitates communication with the police, in addition to a solicitor at the police station). Court proceedings are not open to the public, children are automatically entitled to anonymity in press reporting. The sentences available are significantly lower than the comparative sentences for adults (rarely imposing a custodial sentence) and Judges and prosecutors must be “youth ticketed”.
Most importantly, in making all decisions involving children, the police and CPS are required to make the best interests of the child a primary consideration[1]. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. Particularly when children appear more mature than they are, or the offence is particularly serious. In those circumstances parents and their children are forced to view the police through a new lens; an agency who had previously been their protectors, become the antithesis of this, tearing the sanctity of their family life apart. This sometimes appears to be done with very little, if any, regard to the long-term consequences police decision making will have on the young child and their family. Having said that, there are police officers and supportive agencies who do a brilliant job at supporting children through the criminal justice system, I have worked with many of them. However, their supportive and considered approach is sadly not universal in my experience.
There will of course be some occasions where it is appropriate for the criminal justice system to criminalise and imprison a child, if they genuinely pose a risk to the public which cannot be managed in any other way. However, those occasions are extraordinarily rare and I hope that this series makes the wider public aware that even in such circumstances there is good reason to want the initial experience of contact with the police and investigation to be as child friendly as possible.
Imagine if this happened to your family. We each would want and need a youth justice system which recognises and respects that your child is just that, a child.
The Guardian’s review, “the closest thing to TV perfection” can be found here – Guardian Review.
[1] United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 3(1)
About the author
Rebecca is a senior associate in the criminal litigation department, with a reputation as a tenacious criminal defence lawyer who thrives on the legal and strategic challenge involved in preparing a case for trial.
