Sentencing Principles for Young Adults

9 January 2019

Sentencing Principles for Young Adults

Courts and sentencing, Sentencing, Young adults

Open report

This document sets out the principles that ought to be applied to young adults, typically aged 18 to 25, sentenced for any offence, in line with developments in case law, science and social studies.

Publisher: The Howard League for Penal Reform

Criminal Justice, young adults

Behind the decline

This Centre for Crime and Justice Studies report looks at the shrinking young adult population within the criminal justice system who are experiencing increasingly harsher treatment.

May 2026

Reimagining justice for children and young adults

April 2026

Joint Enterprise: A view over time

The report looks at two decades of data on joint enterprise, finding a disproportionate impact on young adults and persistent racial disparities.