Overview
- National coverage has revealed three separate North East youth-court cases in which teenage boys convicted of rape or sexual assault received youth rehabilitation orders and only a £26 court fee instead of immediate jail time.
- The Attorney General has already referred a high-profile Fordingbridge, Hampshire, sentencing to the Court of Appeal and the prime minister called the Hampshire case appalling.
- Court records show some sentences included fixed periods on the sex offenders register of 30 to 42 months and in the Hampshire trials some assaults were filmed and circulated on phones, increasing harm to victims.
- Youth courts give defendants under 18 statutory anonymity and follow Sentencing Council guidance that treats custody for children as a last resort with pre-sentence reports and assessments of age, vulnerability and rehabilitation prospects.
- Victims, local victim advocates and campaign groups say the penalties are derisory and unsafe, ministers and charities are demanding guideline reviews, and the Court of Appeal can raise sentences if it finds them unduly lenient.