ABSTRACT
If a Home Secretary announced that it was the intention of the Government to scrap the youth court, that a young offender could not be prosecuted for any but the most serious offences, but instead would be dealt with by a tribunal that could not imprison, fine, order compensation or community service and could only make an order for some form of social work intervention in the life of that offender, what might be the reaction of an English magistrate? Surprise? Disbelief? Apoplexy? Perhaps a combination of all three and a feeling that the end of civilisation is near. In one part of the UK such a system exists. In Scotland, at the beginning of the 1970s, as a result of law enacted in 1968, the Scottish youth justice system was radically changed. Despite some criticism, it gained the confidence of the Scottish people and retains it to the present day.
