Child defendants in the Crown Court

Updated September 2026

This is the sixth edition of the bench book, previously titled Youth Defendants in the Crown Court and first published in March 2021.

This bench book aims to gather in one place everything relating to child defendants that a Crown Court judge needs to know and it should be considered an essential judicial reference tool.

The Judicial College is grateful to Ms Justice Heather Norton and His Honour Judge Gareth Branston, the joint authors, without whom this publication would not exist.