Youth Conditional Caution (YCC) and Youth Caution (YC)
Youth Disposals - what are they?
If you commit certain types of offence and you admit it, you may be able to get a Youth Caution or Youth Conditional Caution instead of going to court. These are also know as out of court disposals - this is a way of dealing with a crime or offence that does not require a prosecution in court. They allow the police to deal quickly and fairly with low level, often first time offending.
Youth Cautions and Youth Conditional Cautions are formal warnings that are kept on record by the police.
To decide if a Caution or Conditional Caution is the best thing to do, the police will refer your case to a panel made up of youth professionals from different agencies.
The panel will either make a decision straight away or ask for more information about you or your case.
To help with the decision, the Youth Offending Team may contact you or your parents or carer to arrange an assessment meeting with you. If you are under 16, your parent or carer must be at this meeting.
Assessment Meeting
At an assessment meeting, you and your parent or carer will be asked to share information about yourselves. You will also be asked about the offence and different areas of your life, such as education, family and health for example.
To complete an assessment the Youth Offending Team will contact other agencies such as your school, Children's Services and the police. Any information will be treated in line with the Data Protection Act.
If you tell us something during the meetings about a risk of harm to yourself or others, or if it is clear that an offence has been committed which has not been dealt with already, we will pass this information on to the police or Childrens Social Services.
Information from the meeting will be given to the panel to make a decision on the best way to deal with your case.
Youth Caution
A Youth Caution is a formal warning that is kept on record by the police. It can be given to young people under the age of 18 who have committed a criminal offence.
If you receive a Youth Caution, the victim of your crime may be invited to meet with you to discuss the offence - you will be informed of this beforehand if this is the case.
In addition, the Youth Offending Team may do some work with you to help you stay out of trouble. This work is voluntary, but if you decide not to do it, this may affect what happens to you if you get into trouble in the future.
Youth Conditional Caution
A youth conditional caution is a formal warning that is kept on record by the police. It can be given to young people under the age of 18 who have committed a criminal offence.
If you receive a Youth Conditional Caution, it will include at least one condition which you must complete. This is not voluntary and you must attend the meetings with the Youth Offending Team and carry out any conditions set for you. If you do not complete the programme, you will have to go to Court.
Examples of what can be part of a Youth Conditional Caution are:
- Doing some community work to make up for your offence
- Anger management work
- Drugs or alcohol work
- Staying away from certain places/people
- Writing a letter of apology
- Victim awareness work
- Positive activities
- Access to other services
Recording of Disposals
Will I have to disclose this in the future?
Youth Cautions and Youth Conditional Cautions are not convictions, but are formal criminal justice disposals.
Youth Cautions come under the provisions of a the Rehabilitaion of Offences Act 1994 and do not need to be disclosed unless you have been specifically asked if you have ever received a caution.
Youth Conditional Cautions also do not have to bve disclosed afer 3 months, if the conditions are met, unless you have been specifically asled if you have ever received a caution.
However, if you are asked to complete a full Disclosure and Barring Service, for example if you are working with children or vulnerable people, a Youth Caution or Youth Conditional Caution will show up.
