Rights and the Law

Topic: Rights and the Law

This toolkit aims to support and assist education staff, partner agencies and CYP practitioners in their work with children, young people and families. Further information, advice and resources specific to young people’s rights and the law can be accessed via the additional resources button on this page.

Introduction

Through the work we do directly with children and young people, it was apparent that many did not understand police processes or know their rights regarding the law; in particular, making a complaint, being arrested, being searched or reporting a crime.

Many of the young people we spoke to had misconceptions about the police and criminal justice system which they felt would affect their decision to contact the police, report a crime or make a complaint, highlighting that more work needed to be done to better inform young people.

Hampshire Police Youth Charter and Sub-Charters

In response, further consultation took place with young people to find out what they felt they need to know, what it should look like and how best to get the information heard among their peers.

This resulted in the development of our Youth Charter and Sub-Charters to outline what young people can expect from the police, and give a clearer explanation about police processes, the law and their rights.

The charter and six sub-charters were co-developed with young people to ensure the content is presented and written in a way that will help young people understand what their rights are, and what to expect from specific encounters with the police.