Kirklees YOT provides a service to 2 local Youth Courts, Huddersfield and Dewsbury (see maps in our Courts booklet) and the Crown Courts in Leeds and Bradford.

Following a review of the way we organise our court services in 2008, together with the recent introduction of the Youth Rehabilitation Order, we have reorganised our services to create a Court Team of 4 staff to work across all local courts.

By re-organising we intend to improve the consistency of our service to the Courts thereby increasing the confidence of local magistrates in the work of the YOT.

One of the key roles of the Court Team is to provide reports on young people who are due to be sentenced. Our aim is to increase the percentage of stand-down reports (reports prepared on the day of sentence) from 12% at present to up to 50%. This will free up staff resources to do direct work with young people and speed up the time it takes for young people to be dealt with by the Courts.

For more information on our work in the Courts please see 'A YOT Guide to Kirklees Youth Courts'

See our participation in the 2009 Centenary celebrations of Youth Courts

Sentence Trouble
At least 60% of young people in the youth justice system have communication needs. That could mean that over half of the young people you work with do not understand what people say to them or find it difficult to get their message across.  The Communication Trust website at - http://www.sentencetrouble.info/ - can help you:

• Find out what communication needs are

• View examples of what these needs may look like

• Gain advice to support you in your work

• Download resources