Evidence course work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Evidence course work - Essay Example intelligent principles aim at promoting the rights of babyren throughout the administration of justice. This means that the legal system needs to uphold the occurrence that children, including individuals aged 17 categorys, be people in their own right and thus possess obligations and rights. These rights and obligations must(prenominal) be taken into consideration and respected by judicial and administrative authorities. 17 year olds enrapture special rights at law of nature stations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the array of legal rights endowed on 17 year olds while in police custody for interviewing. The paper will further fill pertinent recommendations to enhance the level of protection offered to juveniles in the initial stages of the juvenile justice process. Background International, regional and national legal principles hold that children possess special interests, needs and rights, which must be appreciated in all sta ges of the criminal justice system. This means that the administration of justice, both criminal and otherwise should always be guided by principal principles of non-discrimination, which are aimed at upholding the best interests of the juvenile. The European formula on world Rights is one of the most relevant regional legal principles that countries in Europe seek to incorporate into their domesticated legal systems in order to provide guidance on the treatment of juveniles within the justice system3. The Convention has influenced the creation and implementation of legal provisions such as the Police and Criminal Evidence playact 1984 (PACE) and the Human Rights stand for 1998 with the view to enhance the protection of juveniles rights in all spheres of life. Notably, recent court cases guard revealed that PACE is inadequate in its protection of juveniles since it promotes the treatment of 17 year olds as adults during interviews at the police station. In R. (on the applicati on of HC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department 2013 EWHC 982 (Admin) (QBD (Admin)), the court ruled that the stroke to revise PACE 1984 Code C in a manner that differentiates among adults and 17 year olds is a direct contravention of the governments legal duty chthonian the Human Rights Act 19984. PACE 1984 Code C allows police officers to treat 17 year olds as adults5. For instance, police officers are allowed to delay juveniles phone calls to their guardians on the pretext that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the wield of the right to a phone call will impair the investigations. PACE Code C considers juveniles as all individuals who seem to be below the age of 17 years in the absence of induction to the contrary6. Since the ratification of the Children Act in 1908, the criminal justice system has maintained that young offenders must be treated differently from adults in all stages of the justice process. Other legal principles such as gaol and sentencing legislation, for instance, Criminal Justice Act 2003, Powers of Criminal Courts Sentencing Act 2000 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 also differentiate between those below and over the age of 18 years7. Additionally, the Prison Service Instruction 08/2012 describes children as all individuals under 18 years. Under Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) a child is essentially a person under 18 years, unless the law applicable to the child delineates that majority is come through at a