Most young people will never commit a crime or be involved with the police, but it does happen. If you have or are suspected of having committed a crime, a number of things can happen. On this page, you can find out what options there are, what rights you have and how committing a crime can possibly impact on your future life.
The police make a decision not to charge the offender. This can be because of lack of evidence or it is not in the public interest to take it further.
This is usually used for low-level crimes where the offender admits their guilt. Often the victim will agree that they do not wish to take the incident any further, but they can ask to be involved to explain how it affected them. It will not result in a criminal record, but the Youth Offending Service can carry out an assessment and then draw up a plan to help improve the offender’s behaviour.
If you commit a crime and are over 10 years old, the police can give you a caution, which is like being given a warning. The police are telling you that you have broken the law, but it is not serious enough to be arrested or to go to court. You will usually be cautioned if it is your first offence and you have admitted doing it.
To be given a caution, the police officer must have evidence that you have committed a crime, which has enough evidence that would lead you to being convicted if it went to court. You can only get a caution if you admit to doing it and have not committed any other crime in the past. If you do not admit to it, you can be arrested and charged.
A caution isn’t a criminal conviction, so once it is complete, it is considered finished with , but if you commit further crimes where you end up in court, it can be used as evidence to show that you are repeatedly offending.
10-17 year olds can be given a caution if they admit the offence. A youth caution remains on a your criminal record. It is considered spent (which means you would not have to disclose it for most jobs), but it will appear on an enhanced criminal record check.
Will a caution stop me being able to do things?
If you complete an application, and it asks you if you have committed any crime, you do not have to include this as it is considered spent, but if you are applying for a job and there is a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS), the caution will show and your future employer will be able to consider whether you are the right person for the job.
10-17 years olds can be given a youth conditional caution if they admit a criminal offence. Youth conditional cautions are a caution with one or more conditions attached. You have to commit to things the police ask you to do, like getting help for alcohol or drug addiction. If a child does not keep to the conditions they could be prosecuted for the original offence.
Like a caution, It is considered ‘spent’, but it will appear on an enhanced criminal record check.
Will a caution stop me being able to do things?
If you complete an application, and it asks you if you have committed any crime, you do not have to include this as it is considered spent, but if you are applying for a job and there is a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS), the caution will show and your future employer will be able to consider whether you are the right person for the job.
For serious offences, the police and Youth Offending Service may decide that the young person should be charged to appear in court. You are often likely be able to go home until the hearing, but sometimes an offence is so serious that a young person will be kept in custody until the court hearing. You will be given a date to attend court where you and parents or carers are expected to attend court with the young person. If the young person is in care a social worker is expected to attend as well. The Youth Offending Service will advise the court on the best sentence based on their knowledge of the young person. Click on the ‘Court’ tab to find out more.
Custody
If you are involved in a crime, if it is deemed serious enough, you can be taken to custody, it can be a scary experience. This video explains what you can expect.
Going to Court
This video explains what you can expect when going to court.
The court
Youandco.org have created an interactive court so you can see how a court may look when you attend. Click on the image to visit their site.
You can find out a lot more information from the website ‘You and Co’ which provides support for young people going to court, either as offenders, victims or witnesses. Click on the image to go to the court pages on their website.
A court has a number of choices if you are found guilty of committing an offence. Firstly you may receive a custodial sentence.can decide that you receive a custodial sentence. You could be sent to one of the following places:
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Secure children’s homes:
For young offenders aged 10 to 14.
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Secure Training Centres:
For offenders up to 17 years. They provide education and training and address reasons for your behaviour.
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Young Offender Institutions: (YOIs):
For offenders aged 15 to 21 and are run by the Prison service. Like the secure children’s home they provide education and training and address reasons for your behaviour.
Community Sentence
The court may decide that you do not require being sent to a secure location if you are found guilty. They may request the following:
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Fine
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Reparation Order:
This is to get you to understand the consequences of your crime. It may include getting the victim and offender together, or doing community work;
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Referral Orders:
If this is your first offence and you admit guilt, you can be referred to a Youth Offender Panel which decides on the best option lasting from 3 to 12 months. Once completed, the offence won’t have to be disclosed when applying for work;
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Youth Rehabilitation Orders:
This tells you what can and can’t do for up to three years. It will be in response to the crime you committed and may include things like staying away from a place, a curfew, random drugs testing or a drug addiction treatment. If you fail to comply with these orders, you may go to custody.
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Absolute Discharge:
If you admit you’re guilty or are found guilty of an offence, no further action will be taken and you’ll be given an absolute discharge;
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Conditional Discharge:
No immediate punishment is given. Instead, a period up to three years is set, and as long as you don’t commit any more offences, there will be no punishment. If you do offend in that time, you can be brought back to court and re-sentenced.
Prison
Young offender institutions are for 15 to 21-year-olds and being sent to one is a challenging experience.
Elearning
TBU
Podcasts
TBU
Video
Websites
Children as young as six are being forced to carry and sell drugs far away from their homes. They are made to skip school, sleep in drug dens, keep secrets from their loved ones. They are treated as criminals when they often feel trapped in a hopeless situation.
Fearless is a site where you can access non-judgemental information and advice about crime and criminality. What makes this site different is we also provide you with a safe place to give information to us about crime – 100% anonymously. Also includes classroom resources
Fully Human is the research and development arm of the PSHE Association. It’s our place to think, stretch out and join the dots between this fast changing world and what might best support children and young people to navigate it.
Whether you’ve been a victim of a crime, worried about your safety or need to understand your rights The Mix offers non-judgemental legal information and support for young people that’s clear and easy to understand.
UK arrest rights lay out exactly how you should be treated if you’ve been taken into custody by the police. Read on to learn more about your rights when arrested.
What happens if you’re stopped and searched by the police? What are your rights, and what powers to stop people do the police actually have? Can you refuse a stop and search? Here’s all you need to know to keep you safe.
Documents
Author: YJLC
Published: 11-06-2025
The presumption that children will be diverted away from prosecution through the use of out of court disposals (OOCDs) is the starting point of the youth justice system. This guide provides an overview of the OOCDs available to children and the law and guidance around the decision-making process. It gives practical guidance on how to argue for an OOCD for your child client.
Author: Centre for Justice Innovation
Published: 27-05-2025
This report, produced by the Centre for Justice Innovation and the Centre for Care, looks at the risks that children in contact with the social care system face that could result in criminal justice involvement and explores practical responses to mitigate these.
Author: MoJ
Published: 20-03-2025
This report presents the findings of an exploratory analysis of repeat offending by children and young people in England and Wales. It focuses on one cohort of young people with repeated contact with the criminal courts, examining their characteristics, offending patterns, and needs.
Author: Home Office, Ministry of Justice
Published: 25-02-2025
The Crime and Policing Bill has been laid before Parliament. It includes provisions to introduce: new offences of child criminal exploitation and cuckooing (where a vulnerable person’s home is used by others to commit criminal activity).
Author: HM Inspectorate of Prisons
Published: 13-11-2024
More children in custody felt unsafe than last year, and fewer said they were getting any education, according to an annual review by HM Inspectorate of Prisons. The review, which analysed survey findings from children living in young offender institutions (YOIs) and secure training centres (STCs) in England and Wales in 2023-24, found that children spent the majority of their time locked in their cells, with little done to address their offending. When they were able to mix with other children on the wings, this was often marred by conflict and violence.
Author: Institute of Fiscal Studies
Published: 12-11-2024
Youth clubs are community-based after-school programmes, typically offered free of charge to teenagers in underprivileged neighbourhoods. I provide the first causal estimates of their effects on education and crime, leveraging quasi-experimental variation from austerity-related cuts, which led to the closure of 30% of youth clubs in London between 2010 and 2019.
Author: Sentencing Academy
Published: 31-10-2024
This report describes the findings from a survey of 1,038 children living in England and Wales aged between 10-17 years, drawn from the general public and conducted in 2023. The research contributes to the literature on the public’s knowledge and opinion of sentencing and this survey follows up an earlier report by the Sentencing Academy, published in January 2022, which explored public knowledge of sentencing practice and trends through a survey of adult respondents.
Author: Revolving Doors
Published: 24-10-2024
Revolving Doors were commissioned by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) to produce a review of good and promising local practice that is tackling ethnic disparity and over-representation in youth justice across England and Wales.
Author: National Police Chief’s Council
Published: 18-10-2024
The National Police Chief’s Council have released their proposals for a child centred policing strategy. The report recognises the importance of diverting children and young people from the criminal justice system (CJS) and proposes a strategy to ensure children are seen as children before anything else in encounters with the police.
Author: Centre for Justice Innovation
Published: 18-04-2024
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are hugely over-represented at all points in the criminal justice system. Evidence suggests that 70–90% of children in the justice system have some form of SEND.
Author: Alliance for Youth Justice/Leaders Unlocked
Published: 12-04-2024
The project is led by children and young people who have lived experience of the youth justice system, and who want to be part of a movement to drive positive change around issues that are important to them. The project supports the Young Advocates to play a leadership role and represent children and young people across the country.
Author: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Published: 03-04-2024
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on custodial institutions has been the subject of intense scrutiny. During the pandemic, many international jurisdictions failed to develop clear and child-focussed plans for the management of children in custody, instead relying on strategies developed for adult populations.
Author: Action for Children
Published: 27-03-2024
The facts of criminal exploitation paint a stark picture: tens of thousands of children and young people across the country are controlled and manipulated by criminal gangs, while countless more are at risk. The toll on these young lives is immeasurable, leading to serious physical harm, long-term trauma and criminalisation. Children are paying with their freedom, their childhoods and their lives.
Classroom Resources
These lessons help students explore how young people might be recruited into a gang, and consider the choices, risks, and potential consequences for this type of scenario, and ways to get support with gang-related issues.
Category: Crime and ASB, County Lines
Audience: KS3, KS4
Developed by: Medway/PSHE Association
Duration (minutes): 3×45
Keywords:
The lessons have been developed for Medway schools in partnership with Medway Public Health Directorate, as an update to the original 2018 pack.
A free lesson pack to help upper KS2 pupils make safe cyber choices and prevent them from unknowingly committing cybercrime, as defined under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Category: Crime and ASB, Cyber Crime, Online Safety
Audience: KS2
Developed by: NCA/PSHE Association
Duration (minutes): 2 x 30
Keywords:
Making the right #CyberChoices features a series of fictional characters and real-life, age-appropriate scenarios to encourage pupils to think about why young people commit cybercrime, and the potential consequences — for themselves and others. There are also opportunities for pupils to consider how the same skills being used to commit cybercrime could be used in a more positive way.
The lesson plans from the Home Office are designed to prevent young people becoming involved in serious and organised crime.
Category: Crime and ASB, Drugs, County Lines
Audience: KS3
Developed by: Home Office
Duration (minutes): 2×60
Keywords:
The Year 7 lesson will help students recognise unsafe or coercive friendships. The Year 9 lesson explores the impact of serious and organised crime directly, including the example of young people involved in drugs supply with a focus on county lines (transporting drugs across counties).
News
07/07/2025: Children should not be strip-searched or detained unless a last resort, say MPs
Parliamentary reports include harrowing testimonies from children in England and Wales about their treatment
03/07/2025: Children In Police Custody
Miranda Bevan, King’s College London, guest blogs on new research from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Children in Police Custody.
27/06/2025: Black children arrested in London ‘15% more likely to be criminalised’ than white children
Report finds black offenders less likely to receive mentoring to help them avoid getting criminal record at early age
26/06/2025: Two Met officers dismissed for gross misconduct after strip-search of black schoolgirl
Disciplinary hearing finds police officers’ search of Child Q, 15, was disproportionate and humiliating.
26/06/2025: Desistance Work With Young People
Alexandra Wigzell and Claire Paterson-Young provide insights into progressive desistance practice in youth justice.
23/06/2025: Reducing The Over-Representation Of Looked After Children In The Criminal Justice System
Clare Birtwistle of Manchester Metropolitan University guest blogs on reducing the over-representation of looked after children in the CJS
23/06/2025: New YJLC Legal Guide in Out of Court Disposals
The YJLC team are delighted to announce the publication of their latest legal guide Out of Court Disposals.
18/06/2025: Child violent crime suspects ‘getting younger’
An increasing proportion of children aged between 10 and 14 years old are suspected of committing violent crime in London, in comparison to other young people, a report has found.
05/06/2025: Safeguarding First: Children and the criminal legal system
Hear from experts on how to use safeguarding and welfare law to better defend children in the criminal legal system.
01/06/2025: Black and mixed heritage young offenders ‘given harsher penalties’
Black and mixed heritage children are being handed tougher penalties than their white peers, even when they have committed the same offences, researchers are warning.
Useful Links
