Procedural safeguards for young offenders: Views of legal professionals and adolescents

Abstract

We investigated the importance of procedural safeguards for young offenders, identified by adolescents and legal professionals. Comparisons were made of the ratings of 17 individual procedural safeguards related to the story of a hypothetical young person brought before the court for stealing $50. Procedural safeguards were rated by 362 students from Year 9 and 370 from Year 11 at two Catholic secondary schools, and by 881 members of the legal profession. There were differences related to professional role and stake in proceedings in the emphases of judges and magistrates compared with barristers and with solicitors, and in the emphases of all legal professionals compared with those of t..