If you say plead not guilty
If you say “not guilty” to an offence, tou will usually be allowed to go home on bail until your next court date. This means you must come back to court when told. If you don’t come, the court can issue a warrant for your arrest.
Sometimes the police or prosecutor might worry that you could:
- not come back to court
- get into more trouble
- try to affect witnesses
If that happens, the Youth Justice Service (YJS) will check if you can stay in the community with extra support called Bail Supervision and Support, or sometimes ISS (Intensive Supervision and Surveillance).
If you don’t follow the bail rules, you will need to go back to court.
If you are not given bail
If the court decides it’s not safe to give you bail, you might be remanded into custody until your trial.
In some cases, the court may decide to remand a child or young person into the care of the local authority. This means the young person is looked after by Hounslow Children’s Services. They may stay with family, trained foster carers, or, if necessary, in secure accommodation. This could be a:
- young offenders’ institution
- secure training centre
- secure children’s home
If a secure remand is ordered, the YJS works with the Youth Custody Service to make arrangements and provide ongoing support.
Pre-trial review
Before your trial, there might be a short meeting between solicitors to plan which witnesses will give evidence. You might not have to go court on this occasion, but you should check with your solicitor just in case.
After this, you’ll get a letter with the trial date and when you need to go to court.
On the day of the trial
Witnesses from each side stay separate and cannot talk about what will be said in court.
After everyone has spoken, the magistrates will decide if you’re guilty or not guilty.
If you are found guilty, the court will decide on your sentence.
