‘It’s harder to go to court yourself because you don’t really know what to expect’: Reducing the negative effects of court exposure on young people – Findings from an Evaluation in Scotland
| Author | Ross Deuchar,Maria Sapouna |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225415606815 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Youth Justice
2016, Vol. 16(2) 130 –146
© The Author(s) 2015
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1473225415606815
yjj.sagepub.com
‘It’s harder to go to court yourself
because you don’t really know
what to expect’: Reducing the
negative effects of court exposure
on young people – Findings from
an Evaluation in Scotland
Ross Deuchar and Maria Sapouna
Abstract
In Scotland, the Whole System Approach to preventing and reducing offending includes the provision of
court support for young people under 18 years. This article outlines the insights from an evaluation of
one Scottish local authority’s support service. Semi-structured interviews conducted with 26 participants
were combined with observation of interactions between support workers and young people, with some
additional follow-up statistical analysis of key outcomes. The insights suggest that the court support helped
to reassure young people and make them more aware of their rights. It helped many young people to avoid
receiving custodial sentences, meet bail conditions, reflect upon their offending behaviour and begin to make
alternative choices.
Keywords
bail, courts, sentencing, whole system, young people
Introduction
Research suggests that processing young people through the justice system increases the
likelihood they will offend again and re-enter the system (McAra and McVie, 2007;
Petitclerc et al., 2013; Petrosino et al., 2010). In the light of this evidence, the Scottish
Government introduced in 2011 the Whole System Approach (WSA) to preventing and
reducing offending by young people. The approach seeks to maximise opportunities for
young people to be diverted away from the adult justice system through early and
Corresponding author:
Ross Deuchar, School of Education, Institute for Youth and Community Research, University of the West of Scotland,
Hamilton Campus, Hamilton ML3 0JB, UK.
Email: ross.deuchar@uws.ac.uk
606815YJJ0010.1177/1473225415606815Youth JusticeDeuchar and Sapouna
research-article2015
Article
Deuchar and Sapouna 131
effective intervention (EEI) or diversion from prosecution. Where this is not possible,
support should be provided to those young people who are prosecuted through the adult
justice system and are required to attend court. This article examines the impact of the
court support service that was developed by one Scottish local authority as part of the
WSA. Drawing predominantly on a qualitative evaluation of the experiences of young
people who were processed through the adult justice system (complimented by some
basic statistical analysis of outcomes), the aim is to explore the effects of court exposure
on young people’s lives and the ways in which the service supported the young people
during that exposure. The article also examines the extent to – and ways in which – the
service enabled young people to experience improved sentencing outcomes and nurtured
stronger commitment to criminal desistance.
Context and Background
Over the last 20 years, concern has grown over the criminogenic effects that formal sys-
tem processing has on young people (Haines et al., 2013). A systematic review of 29
experimental studies found that court-processed adolescents were significantly more
likely to reoffend within a 12-month period compared to those who were diverted
(Petrosino et al., 2010). Similar results have been reported in international non-
experimental studies (Gatti et al., 2009; Huizinga et al., 2003).
In Scotland, there has always been a traditional focus on a welfarist approach to youth
justice, with origins in the Kilbrandon principles (Burney, 2009; Muncie, 2009). The
Children’s Hearing System, introduced in 1971, is the care and justice system for
Scotland’s children and young people. At the heart of the system are Children’s Reporters
(officials employed by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration), who are based in
local communities (SCRA, 2015). Children and young people are referred to the Reporter
from a number of sources, including police, social work, education and health. The
Hearings consist of three lay Panel Members who are all trained volunteers from the
child’s local community (SCRA, 2015). The operationalisation of the system places
the welfare of the child as paramount in decision-making processes. However, in spite of
the continuing use of Children’s Hearings punitive elements crept into the Scottish youth
justice system as a result of the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004 and Children
(Scotland) Act 1995, with the introduction of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) and
electronic tagging for 12- to 15-year-olds (Burney, 2009). Although the outcomes from
the Criminal Justice and Licensing Act (2010) mean that children under 12 years can no
longer be prosecuted for an offence, most offenders aged 16–19 in Scotland are dealt with
in the adult system (Muncie, 2009).
The negative effects that system contact can have on young people were explored in a
Scottish study that used propensity score matching to compare the offending patterns of
young people who had different levels of agency contact at age 15: being charged by the
police, being referred to the Children’s Reporter without further action or brought to a
Children’s Hearing and placed on social work supervision (McAra and McVie, 2007). The
results showed that court hearings were associated with higher levels of self-reported seri-
ous offending 1 year later compared to less intensive forms of contact with criminal justice
To continue reading
Request your trial