This guide deals with the impact of turning 18 on young people in the criminal justice system:

• where they are dealt with for offences committed as a child, and
• where they offend during young adulthood (18 to 25).

The law considers those who turn 18 between criminal proceedings to be adults. Even if they were technically adults at the time of the offence, it is increasingly recognised that young people do not gain full maturity on their 18th birthdays.

The challenge practitioners face is to ensure that there is as much recognition as possible of the young person’s age at the time they offended, and their age and maturity at each significant stage of a case.

Published in June 2020 by the Youth Justice Legal Centre.