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Types of sentence for young people

If you have admitted or been found guilty of a crime, the court will give you a 'sentence'.

This could be a sentence that you serve in the community, rather than being locked up. Or it could be a sentence where you are locked up - a ‘custodial’ sentence.

To find out more about these types of sentences, follow the links ‘Community sentences for young people’ and ‘Custodial sentences for young people’ below.

The law states the maximum amount of time you can be put on a sentence. The court can’t go over this limit.

To find out more about what happens in court, follow the link ‘Young people: going to court after being charged with a crime’ below.

• Young people: going to court after being charged with a crime

• Community sentences for young people

• Custodial sentences for young people

How a sentence is worked out

The kind of sentence you get will depend on:

• if you admitted the crime
• how serious the crime is
• your age
• your criminal history - if you have committed crimes before
• if you have shown how sorry you are
• your background and personal circumstances

Before deciding on a sentence, the court will need to learn about your background. To do this, they read a report called a Pre-Sentence Report. The court will use this report when deciding what kind of sentence to give.

The youth offending team, who will have been involved in your case, write the report. Your parents might be asked questions to help them complete the report.

Sometimes the youth offending team will have the report ready, so the court can make their decision straight away.

The youth offending team might need more time to write the report, or the court might ask them for more information. The report can take a few weeks to write, so you will have to come back to court again to get your sentence. In the meantime you will be put on ‘remand’, and either allowed to go home (on ‘bail’) or kept in custody. To find out what being on remand means, follow the link ‘Bail and remand for young people’ below.

• Bail and remand for young people

• Youth offending teams: what they are

Circumstances the court will take into account

The court will also look at any 'mitigating' circumstances. This means circumstances that may have influenced your behaviour, or lead you to commit the crime.

These circumstances could include:

• family circumstances
• experiences at school
• neighbourhood problems
• health issues

The court could give you a sentence that helps you with these things. So you might have to get support or treatment if, for example, you have a drug problem.

• Young people: what happens when serving a community sentence

• Young people and custody

Appealing against a sentence

To ‘appeal’ against something is to say you disagree with it and try to get it changed.

If you want to appeal against your sentence, speak to your legal adviser. They can advise you on the chances of success and how long it can take.