Hello everyone! Welcome to the last guide in this series, which I’m hoping will have you feeling lots more confident for your Crime essay, and maybe even put you in the right frame of mind to do well in your elective essays too! The trials are right around the corner, and before I even start, I want to wish everyone the best of luck! Remember, feel free to take a second and register for an account and ask me for any tips or tricks, or any questions you had. I’m happy to help! So, this last guide will be a little shorter than normal. It is going to cover Young Offenders. Now, I’ll start by saying, getting an essay that is completely restricted to young offenders is quite unlikely, and if it happens, you are quite unlucky. It’s a very small part of the course and their isn’t a whole lot to talk about. But it has happened before, and could happen again, so like it or not, you should be prepared. And, beyond that, this stuff can be slotted into another Crime question to give you that little bit more depth. Either way, stuff you should know! Like the other guides, I’ll go over the essential laws, cases, responses and concepts you should discuss, in a quick little guide to read over the night before your Trial.
Laws There are a few pieces of legislation you should definitely consider a mention in an essay/paragraph on young offenders. Rather than analysing them directly, these laws probably will just be your evidence for a more over-arching argument, which I’ll talk about later.
Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW) This act covers all issues concerned with the sentencing of children. The main priorities are rehabilitation, education, and relationships. This is one you can mention to back up any number of arguments, and should come up if you discuss the sentencing of a young criminal.
Young Offenders Act 1997 This act sets up the three tier system (warning, caution, YJC), the evaluation of which I’ll mention later. It also governs some specific police conduct in terms of young people.
Law Enforcement (Power and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW) Most police conduct is handled by a section of this act. Any argument of how police powers apply to minors should contain a mention of this.
Children’s Court Act 1987 (NSW) Pretty obvious, established the Children’s Courts. If you do a Young Offenders essay, or a paragraph on young offenders in court, without mentioning this… The marker will be very surprised.
Convention on the Rights of the Child The main international treaty governing children and their human rights. This is the one document you can evaluate by itself in some depth, since there are not really other international responses to speak of here. For one, it is a far reaching and influential piece of law which has an obvious effect on domestic lawmakers. Conversely, it is soft law, and cannot be enforced to any effective degree. Pick your side, and let loose, its a nice inclusion. Be careful not to talk about international stuff too much, the focus should be on the domestic response, but CROC should definitely appear.
Cases This is where we run into an issue; young criminals are kept anonymous in most situations. Cases are very difficult to come by. The easiest way to get them is to explore some media articles in the days before your exam; that way they are current and the marker will have an idea of what you are talking about, even without the proper case reference.
The one case I would definitely suggest mentioning is the
Corey Davis Case (1999) . The markers see it enough to know what it is. Basically, a 10 year old was charged with manslaughter after pushing a 6 year old into a river. This case lends well to a discussion of doli incapax, from either end. It’s simply a matter of whether you argue that the conviction was justified, or otherwise. Or, you can simply use it as an example of a case where doli incapax was successfully rebutted (which is rare).
Responses The easiest way to structure a young offenders essay is around the welfare and justice models of dealing with young criminals. Essentially, do we punish them severely as a deterrent, or do we recognise that they are not adults and punish very leniently. My essays in this area would discuss how the Australian legal response is not meeting international obligations (under CROC) to establish a welfare based approach to young criminal behaviour, instead falling too often into retributive approaches. You may argue the exact reverse, there is lots of room for interesting, balanced arguments.
Either way, there are a few
responses or ideas that you should be evaluating in essays on young offenders.
First is the three tier system of warnings, cautions and YJC’s. This system allows police to use their discretion and give young criminals warnings before they are dealt with in the criminal trial system. For one, this system evidences an effective framework for the welfare model of child justice. However, statistics show it is under-utilised, and YJC’s have a high recidivism rate (over 50%). Add some mentions to the Young Offenders Act and a media article or two, and you have a solid, balanced paragraph.
Doli Incapax should be mentioned as well, perhaps in conjunction with above. Do you think children should be criminally liable for their actions? Pick a side which works with your essay and argue it, with some media articles as evidence. Another easy paragraph.
Finally, discussing how children are accommodated in courts is an effective approach. Obviously, any cases you find relevant could be discussed here. Talk about how sentencing effectively takes the age of the offender into account (or doesn’t, depending on your argument). Talk about the effectiveness of specialised courts, or perhaps, the redundancy of such courts if the three-tier system were properly utilised in the first place. Again, lots of room to move with your arguments.
Covering these three points gets you started with a fairly generic young offenders essay structure; come up with a nice argument to thread through and the work is done! Easy peasy. Young offenders is tricky in that you won’t have as much to discuss, but this almost works in your favour too… In that this structure will work for virtually any young offenders question. Intro, Three Tier System, Doli Incapax, Courts, Conclusion. Band 6. Well, that last part might take a bit of work on your part, but if you do some research, remember a few media articles about some interesting cases, you’ll have plenty to mention and talk about. And remember, even if you are a little short, just spend an extra sentence saying why you think a law is good or not:
The Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW) is a vital piece of legislation, enabling police to use their discretion and effectively achieve justice for young criminals. By allowing warnings and cautions to be issued, rehabilitation is promoted in a manner befitting the welfare model of dealing with young criminals. All I did was say the law, what it did, and why it is good, linking back to my argument (presumably on the welfare model). Nice and straightforward, with a little practice.
So, that’s it for these guides! You should now have a bunch of stuff to use in your essays. Jump online and supplement it with a current case and article or two, and you are all set. To practice, just keep looking at questions and planning your responses, soon your arguments will flow naturally. And, as always, remember to register for an account and get in touch below! I’m happy to help with any questions. Happy study, and good luck for trials!
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