Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many young offenders have been tried before (a) adult magistrates' courts and (b) Crown courts in England and Wales in each year since 2010.

The vast majority of children and young people have their cases heard by specially trained magistrates in the Youth Court.

A child or young person may only be tried in the adult magistrates’ courts where they are a co-defendant with an adult and the court has decided that it is in the interests of justice to keep the defendants together. Children alleged to have committed serious offences, for example homicide or offences that for an adult would result in 14 years or more in prison, are tried in the Crown Court and may also be tried there if it is in the interest of justice to keep them together with an adult co-defendant.

Overall crime is down and fewer young people are offending. Proven offending by under-18s has reduced by 44 percent since 2010/11, while the number of first time entrants to the system has fallen by 39 percent over the same period. The number of young people dealt with in the criminal courts has also fallen, reducing by 51% between 2010 and 2013.

Data on the number of children and young people tried in (a) the adult magistrates’ courts is set out at Table 1.

Table 1: Young people aged 10-17 tried at adult magistrates' courts, England and Wales, 2010-2013

Data on the number of children and young people tried in (b) the Crown Court is set out in Table 2.

Table 2: Young people aged 10-17 tried at the Crown Court, England and Wales, 2009 - 2013

We are considering the recommendations made by the recent inquiry by Parliamentarians, chaired by Lord Carlile, including the recommendation concerning where cases involving children and young people are heard.

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(1) Excludes cases that were discontinued, where the charge was withdrawn, where the defendant failed to appear, and committals for trial to the Crown Court.

(2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

(3) A child or young person may only be tried in the adult magistrates’ courts where they are a co-defendant with an adult and the court has decided that it is in the interests of justice to keep the defendants together.

(4) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

(5) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.