Deborah McMillan’s office has published a new report assessing the 800-year-old system – which deals with both youth offending and minor offences committed by adults – in the light of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The 40-page document includes a number of recommendations, such as mandatory safeguarding training for all honorary police officers, and always having a probation officer present when a child or young person attends a parish hall inquiry.
Speaking to the JEP, Mrs McMillan said: ‘We know that in a modern world the best way to prevent and divert children away from crime is through community-type responses. However, when the parish hall inquiry system was set up it was never set up to be a juvenile or child-friendly diversion scheme, and it was set up before the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was established.’
Other recommendations include introducing an ‘Island-wide safeguarding policy’ for the system, and providing access to independent interpreters ‘whenever requested or deemed necessary’.
Mrs McMillan said: ‘What we have observed is children coming to a parish hall inquiry with a parent who can’t speak English, and they are not entitled to having an interpreter on-site. Children also do not have the right to privacy, in that they are all invited to attend at the same time. They hang about in a waiting room – possibly for three hours – and might not get in until eight o’clock, by which time the average 14-year-old will be quite tired and not in the right frame of mind to embrace the situation.’
Anyone attending a parish hall inquiry can be dealt with by way of a written caution, verbal caution or a fine. They can, in some circumstances, be charged and have their case referred to the Magistrate’s Court. The system is often praised for its ability to deal with offenders for minor offences without them – in many cases – incurring a criminal record.
Mrs McMillan added: ‘What we are saying is that it could be world class in terms of being a community-based youth diversion mechanism or intervention. However, we do have to modernise and professionalise some aspects of it.’
Earlier this year, States police figures revealed a marked increase in youth crime. In 2020 there were 282 arrests of under-18s – twice the total in 2019.
Mrs McMillan said: ‘The point of this report is not to criticise and walk away. What we are doing now is working collaboratively with the Attorney General and others to make sure we can support what happens next.
‘We will be running workshops on what good-practice guidance should look like and talking to the Education Department on how they are going to train and educate children about the justice system.’
