*/
Sir James Munby called for new ‘problem-solving’ courts to deal with children caught up in family and criminal courts.
Speaking at the Howard League for Penal Reform, the President of the Family Division said that the Family Court should be expanded to include the Youth Court, with an emphasis on problem-solving rather on the criminal law.
He urged the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider its prosecuting policy for children, but said: ‘I do not go so far as to suggest that age alone should immunise children from the appropriate application of the criminal law where there has been really serious offending.’
However, in less serious cases, he said it is legitimate to ask what advantage there is in invoking a criminal process in preference to a family court process, especially where the family court is already engaged in careful analysis of and planning for the child’s future.
He said there was an ‘urgent need’ to simplify what had become an ‘immensely complicated landscape’.
Sir James also said there needed to be ‘a fundamental re-balancing of the family court towards what ought to be its true role as a problem-solving court, engaging the therapeutic and other support systems that so many children and parents need’.
He said that in these ‘uniquely complex cases’, courts must grapple with the underlying problems and difficulties of the whole family. ‘So what we need is a problem-solving court for the whole family. Can a criminal court, can the Youth Court, satisfactorily fulfil that role? Is it not, in truth, a role better suited to a re-vamped family court with an enhanced jurisdiction?’
Sir James Munby called for new ‘problem-solving’ courts to deal with children caught up in family and criminal courts.
Speaking at the Howard League for Penal Reform, the President of the Family Division said that the Family Court should be expanded to include the Youth Court, with an emphasis on problem-solving rather on the criminal law.
He urged the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider its prosecuting policy for children, but said: ‘I do not go so far as to suggest that age alone should immunise children from the appropriate application of the criminal law where there has been really serious offending.’
However, in less serious cases, he said it is legitimate to ask what advantage there is in invoking a criminal process in preference to a family court process, especially where the family court is already engaged in careful analysis of and planning for the child’s future.
He said there was an ‘urgent need’ to simplify what had become an ‘immensely complicated landscape’.
Sir James also said there needed to be ‘a fundamental re-balancing of the family court towards what ought to be its true role as a problem-solving court, engaging the therapeutic and other support systems that so many children and parents need’.
He said that in these ‘uniquely complex cases’, courts must grapple with the underlying problems and difficulties of the whole family. ‘So what we need is a problem-solving court for the whole family. Can a criminal court, can the Youth Court, satisfactorily fulfil that role? Is it not, in truth, a role better suited to a re-vamped family court with an enhanced jurisdiction?’
Update from the Chair of the Bar
By Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group
Modernising communication and collaboration at a leading Chancery set. A Zexi case study
How to build profile without compromising professional duties. By Naumaan Farooq, Co-Founder of Inked PR
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, examines the role of cut-off levels, and the wider range of factors that must be considered when interpreting results for family court proceedings
Endometriosis Awareness North, a charity raising awareness of endometriosis and supporting those affected across the North of England, has received a £500 boost from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
The case against judge-only justice – and why efficiency is not enough. By Professor Leslie Thomas KC
Jemima Coleman and Zoë Leventhal KC on the evolving global movement seeking to reframe how we view nature: to recognise that nature possesses inherent rights and to enshrine these rights in law
Heritage as an anchor and a compass, finding our common humanity and embracing the power of the outsider – Melina Antoniadis’s lessons learnt
Seeing the full picture – Baljit Ubhey OBE outlines the CPS action plan to tackle violence against women and girls, offering insights directly relevant to courtroom practice
Lauren Fullerton examines the how, what and why of setting up a second chambers base
