Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

moved Amendment No. 117: 117: After Clause 108, insert the following new Clause— ““Court’s power of direction: child welfare (1) Where a person aged under 18 comes before the court, in circumstances in which a question may arise with respect to the welfare of that person, the court may direct the appropriate authority to undertake an investigation of the circumstances of that person. (2) If the court decides to direct an investigation, the provisions of section 37 (sections 2 to 6) of the Children Act 1989 (c. 41) shall apply. (3) Pending the investigation by the local authority concerned, the case of the person before the court shall be adjourned. (4) Upon receiving the information from the local authority concerned, the court shall decide whether to hear the case or dismiss the summons or adjourn the case generally.”” The noble and learned Baroness said: I shall speak also to Amendment No. 118. These two alternative amendments are intended to apply to children under the age of 14. It may be better from a drafting point of view for the amendment to specify the age of under 18 and indicate in guidance that it is intended to apply to those under 14. Last week, the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, when speaking to an earlier amendment, quite rightly corrected me for saying that some children are bad. I had incorrectly put what I had intended to say, which is, of course, that I do not consider that children are born bad, but that some become consistent offenders and therefore need to be dealt with on that basis. The amendments, however, are intended to address the younger child, under 14, whose offending is not yet very serious. He may be a first offender, or offender in relation to quite trivial offences, who may be seen also as a victim. As has been said several times during the Committee stage, children who offend often need help. The group of children that I have in mind needs help much more than a criminal finding of guilt followed by the appropriate disposal within the criminal justice system in the youth court. These children may well have dysfunctional families, or parents with mental health problems; they may be in a family affected by domestic violence, drink, drugs or parental separation, the latter often having an adverse effect on a child. They may have suffered bullying at school or some form of abuse. Such children may have escaped the attention of social workers, despite being children who, under the Children Act 1989, are undoubtedly in need. Formal or informal intervention by a social worker or other agency such as YOTS, without going through the full youth court criminal process and finding of guilt, may be the moment of diversion from any future offending. It may be the help needed to get the child and, possibly, the family back on to a reasonable course. Section 37 of the Children Act is used by judges and magistrates in family cases in private law proceedings to investigate the family background of a child where it becomes clear that the child will need help beyond the ordinary. To provide this power to the youth court would give it discretion to decide whether the child’s alleged offence, not yet proved, might need to be dealt with in the criminal court by a plea of guilty or a trial, or might be adjourned before the plea is taken for a social worker to report on the family background and the child. This step could be taken only if the court was given relevant information about the child at the beginning of the hearing before the trial. It is not intended to require a local authority to do more than is required of it in the family court by the making of a Section 37 order. After receiving the report, the magistrates could either try the case or dismiss it on the basis of a formal intervention by social services such as an application to the family proceedings court for a care order, or of an informal intervention by social workers or possibly by YOTS to help the family, or it could adjourn to see how the child progressed without going through the court procedure. The purpose of this is to divert the child from offending without their having a finding of guilt and going through the criminal process. I beg to move.