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YOUR JUSTICE: House burgled - teen drug addict arrested
A SHEFFIELD home has been raided and all the evidence seems to point to a 15-year-old boy - what should you do next?
To mark 100 years of youth justice in Sheffield The Star is running a mock trial involving the case of a 15-year-old Sheffield boy who is accused of burglary.
Each day you, The Star readers, will be able to vote and decide whether his case should progress to the next stage of the justice system.
At the end, if he is found guilty, you will be able to decide whether he should go to jail or serve his sentence in the community:
DAY ONE: SOUTH Yorkshire Police officers have been called to a house in Sheffield to find someone has got in through an open window and stolen an MP3 player, a briefcase and a mobile phone.
Police spot a muddy footprint next to the window and take a photograph of it.
They speak to neighbours who provide a description of someone who has walked past the house a number of times during the morning.
As part of the description they mention a black tracksuit top which is blue on the shoulders.
Further searches in the area reveal some of the stolen property has been dumped nearby, which is taken away for forensic examination.
Police go to the house of a local 15-year-old boy who has committed similar offences in the past and fits the description.
He is a heroin user and often commits thefts and burglaries to fund his habit.
His parents are also drug users.
The police know he doesn't go to school so they can't check with his teachers to see if he was at school at the time of the incident.
He is currently receiving support from the council's education welfare officers who are working hard to get him back into mainstream schooling but at the moment he is not attending school.
As police arrive they see the youth trying to hide something, which turns out to be the tracksuit top described by the neighbour.
They also find trainers which they seize so they can be compared to the photographs they have of the muddy footprint.
The 15-year-old boy is arrested and cautioned before being taken to West Bar Police Station, where fingerprints and photographs are taken.
DNA found on the stolen property links the boy to the burglary.
Officers interview him and he says he did see the stolen property because someone tried to sell it to him, but won't give details of the person. He also says the tracksuit top isn't his.
Using the boy's statement, statements of the neighbours, the jacket found at the boy's house, the muddy footprint, the trainers, the stolen property and DNA link, police pass a file of information to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Lawyers must decide whether to charge or release him.
The boy is being held in custody at West Bar Police Station while the Crown Prosecution Service decides what to do.
The lawyer must decide whether he can be charged immediately or more investigations need to be completed.
Before the lawyer makes a decision he or she must decide, under the Code for Crown Prosecutors, whether the evidence available holds a realistic prospect of conviction.
If it does, the CPS must also believe it is in the public interest to pursue a prosecution before agreeing to charge the youth.
What do you think, should the youth be charged with burglary? Yes or no? Cast your vote in the box on the righthand side of this page.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
