§ 19. Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has as to the number of juveniles who have been tried in adult courts, when charged jointly with adults, during the last five years.
§ Mr. CarlisleInformation in precisely the form requested is not readily available. In each of the five years 1966–1970, an average of just under 16,500 juveniles were proceeded against in adult magistrates' courts in England and Wales in accordance with the provisions of Section 46(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933.
§ Mrs. ShortAs this arrangement is usually made in order to facilitate the courts and not to help the young persons concerned, does the Under-Secretary of State not think that he ought to see, if young people are brought before the magistrates' courts and if they are required to be remanded, that they should be remanded in suitable homes and not put in adult prisons which provide a quite unsuitable atmosphere for young people of 11, 12 or 14 years of age?
§ Mr. CarlisleIn reply to that part of her supplementary question that arises on the Question, I do not think that that is so. There are obvious advantages in trying adults and juveniles together where they appear on a joint charge, and that covers the vast majority of cases to which the figure of 16,000 relates. The powers of the magistrates are limited unless they remit to the juvenile court for sentence. On the question about remanding those 1665 of a young age in adult prisons, clearly there is no power to remand anyone under 14, and those aged between 14 and 17 are remanded in adult prisons only where, because the court gives an unruly certificate, they cannot be held in other forms of accommodation.