Diverting young people from prosecution: toolkit

4. 16 & 17 year olds subject to a Supervision Requirement

Is diversion suitable for young people subject to a Supervision Requirement?

The Joint Agreement in Relation to the Cases of Children Jointly Reported to Procurator Fiscal and Children's Reporter sets decision-making standards for cases that are jointly reported to the Procurator Fiscal and Children's Reporter. The Joint Agreement aims to promote appropriate information exchange between the Procurator Fiscal and Children's Reporter and consistent decision making. It focuses on those young people who offend and who may be dealt with either in the Children's Hearings System or the adult criminal justice system or who are transferring between them. The Joint Agreement is available at:

www.copfs.gov.uk/Publications/2010/03/AgreePFChildrensReporter.

Offences committed by 16 and 17 year olds subject to a supervision requirement are required to be jointly reported to the Procurator Fiscal and Children's Reporter. Under the Joint Agreement there is a presumption that offences committed by 16 and 17 year olds who are subject to a supervision requirement will be dealt with by the Procurator Fiscal. This presumption may be overridden where the Procurator Fiscal is satisfied it is not in the public interest to prosecute the child having regard to the following factors:

• the gravity of the offence;
• the frequency of the offending;
• any significant health or development issues or evidence of vulnerability that point to the child's case being better addressed within the Children's Hearings System.

Where the Procurator Fiscal decides to deal with an offence committed by a 16 or 17 year old subject to a supervision requirement it would not then generally be appropriate for the case to be diverted from prosecution to a diversion programme. The assumption is that in deciding to deal with the case the Procurator Fiscal considers that it is necessary to prosecute the case in the public interest. However, in exceptional cases it may be that diversion is the best option for a 16 or 17 year old currently subject to a supervision requirement.