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Councillor in call for youth courts to be open to public
A strong plea for juvenile courts to be opened up to the public was made during a meeting of the West Sussex children and young people’s services select committee.
Cllr Mark Dunn (Con, Bourne), who has served as chairman of both the county council and Sussex Police Authority, said the courts met in private to protect the anonymity of the child.
“The result of sitting in private is that they are not exposed to commonsense public scrutiny,” he said.
“It is easy in these circumstances for judges to become idiosyncratic and for the whole process to become specialised and lacking in human sensitivity.
“Nothing is more intimidating for a child than to appear in court with an insensitive bewigged judge.”
Cllr Dunn said there was far too much preoccupation with anonymity.
This was maintained until something went wrong – then there was a ‘forensic picking-over’ of the case.
“We need to think carefully about the lengths we go to in order to preserve anonymity,” he warned.
Director of children’s services Stuart Gallimore said there was a distinction between young people in court for offences and those before the court on the care side.
There were two very different legal processes.
These were often adversarial, and it was the judge’s job to pull out of the competing views what was in the best interests of the child.
Mr Gallimore said there was a balance to be struck somewhere, in terms of a process being open and transparent, while ensuring it was not a free-for-all, with disturbing information being trawled out.
This was why successive home secretaries had decided discretion was the better part of valour.
Cllr Colin Wilsdon (Lib Dem, Hassocks) said judges did have the best interests of the child at heart.
“The problem is that what they think is the best interests of the child is not always social services thinks,” he added.
“It is a question of getting some agreement over what is in the best interests of the child.”
News item
14 March 23012
