Youth Courts (Constitution of Committees and Right to Preside) Rules 2007 (SI 2007/1611)
These rules provide for the formation of a ‘youth panel’ for each local justice area, consisting of the youth justices for the local justice area. The rules make provision for the constitution of youth courts, providing that a youth court shall consist of either a district judge sitting alone or not more than three justices who shall include a man and a woman.
A single-sex bench is permissible if a mixed gender bench is not available due to circumstances unforeseen when the justices to sit were chosen and the members of the youth court think it inexpedient in the interests of justice for there to be an adjournment (r 10).
Rules 11 and 12 make provision for the chairmanship of youth courts (requiring that a youth court that includes lay justices should be chaired by a district judge if he is sitting as a member of the court, or by a youth justice who is on the list of approved youth court chairmen).
