Youth Justice Team

The Youth Justice Team (YJT) provides services to young people who come into conflict with the law or are at risk of offending behaviour.

The YJT is a statutory service and has the responsibility for attending local courts and overseeing court orders in line with National Standards set by the Youth Justice Board.

What we do

The YJT works with young people aged from 10 years (age of criminal responsibility) up to the age of 18 who have either:

• been sentenced at court
• received an out of court disposal or community resolution
• assessed as at risk of offending

The YJT work with multi agency professionals to engage young people and work alongside families and carers in order to assess, develop and deliver interventions and activities. Our aim is to reduce the risk of reoffending and mitigate concerns in relation to safety and wellbeing.

Where required, the YJT will coordinate comprehensive assessments and will provide reports for court and referral order panels. We will support young people and parents or carers through the court process in our roles as court officers.

Eligibility and referrals

For our prevention service, young people at risk of offending are usually referred by the police, schools, Children’s Social Care, or other agencies who have concerns.

However, we also welcome referrals directly from parents or carers and guardians. For more information, email youth.justice-team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk.

For statutory services, where a young person has been arrested, received a summons to court or an out of court disposal the YJT would become involved following notification from Thames Valley Police and the courts.

Who we work with

The YJT comprises of a head of service, operational manager, senior social worker, statutory case managers, prevention case managers and an administration team. We work with other services in the council to safeguard children and young people and protect the public, referring to our link specialists in the YJT which include:

• health nurse
• CAMHS (Child and Adolescents Mental Health Service) worker
• speech and language therapist
• drugs and alcohol worker
• restorative justice co-ordinator
• parenting worker
• education worker
• police officer

Youth Justice Plan

The Youth Justice Plan is a 3 year plan that reflects the objectives of the partnership of youth offending organisations across the area and of the YJT.

More information

For information on youth courts, see Criminal courts on GOV.UK