Youth Offending Team
In January I dealt with a 17-year-old girl who had been arrested for something she hadn't done but then proceeded to write her name several times on the cell walls in pencil. Her mother attended, told her off and offered to make her rub off the pencil marks. The original reason for her arrest was dropped by the police but she was charged with criminal damage as the Youth Offending Team (YOT) would not authorise a reprimand. In December 2010, a colleague asked the YOT to review this again with a view to giving a warning or reprimand as it seemed like over-kill to give somebody who had never been in contact with the police let alone the courts a criminal record for such a minor offence. Unfortunately, the YOT didn't seem to want to do anything. So, when I went back in January it was adjourned again to give them some more time. I've just looked at the file. It was finally resolved at the end of February after five adjournments for the YOT to make a decisio...