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considerably, juvenile liaison bureaux are still not in place in all parts
of Northern Ireland. The best format for inter-agency co-operation
has, however, still to be determined. Over the past two years a
"children's panel" has been piloted in one HSS Trust area and its
progress has been subject to evaluation.
As part of a second caution or a caution for a serious offence children
are now sometimes encouraged to make reparation to their victims
through a process of restorative justice and staff from the core
agencies have been trained in the Thames Valley model of restorative
cautioning although the victims rarely attend. Indications from
England are that restorative schemes are not easy to establish but
they can enable justice to take place more swiftly so that it is more
real and meaningful to the child and can also be of benefit to the
victim.
Figures for 1999-2000 show that there were 12,323 cases referred to
the juvenile liaison scheme. Of these, only 5 per cent (643) were
referred to the courts for prosecution. The other cases were dealt
with by advice and warning (60 per cent), or by official caution (11
per cent). The remaining 24 per cent involved no further action.
One of the more common offences for which juveniles appear before
the courts is that of criminal damage. Burglary and robbery offences
by juveniles have reduced substantially since they peaked in the early
1980s. Motoring offences by juveniles brought before the courts have
fallen substantially since the 1970s and sexual and violent offences
have consistently represented a small proportion of offences
committed by juveniles. Some offences reflect changes that have
taken place in society over the past 50 years. Drug offences, which
currently represent a very small number of the total cases coming
before the courts, and joy riding are offences which were virtually
unknown 50 years ago.
Trends in sentencing juvenile offenders
For most of the 20th century children who offend were given a
special status under the criminal law. Since the Children Act 1908,
magistrates courts dealing with children under 16 were required to
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