Police powers PACE: treatment of those aged 17
Some provisions of PACE currently treat 17 year olds as adults, as a result they do not benefit from additional safeguards that apply to children. In April 2013 the High Court, in the judicial review in Hughes Cousins-Chang vs. (1) Secretary of State for the Home Department and (2) Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis, ruled that PACE Code of Practice C (which deals with the detention, treatment and questioning of suspects not related to terrorism) breached the claimant’s European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 rights (right to a private and family life), and that of his parent, when read in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The High Court considered that the wish of a 17 year old in trouble to seek the support of a parent and the wish of a parent to be available to give that support lay at the heart of family life.
	In order to comply with the High Court ruling, the Government introduced changes to PACE Codes C and H (which deal with the detention, treatment and questioning of suspects by police officers under the Terrorism Act 2000) on 27 October 2013. The Government subsequently conducted a review of the way that 17 year olds were treated under the primary provisions of PACE. The review concluded that 17 year olds should be treated in the same way as 10 to 16 year olds under all of the relevant provisions. Section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 amended PACE so that where a 17 year old is charged and denied bail then, as with 10 to 16 year olds, the police are required to transfer him or her to local authority accommodation, unless a custody officer certifies that to do so is impracticable. Previously 17 year olds denied bail would be kept in police custody before appearing in court. This change came into force on 26 October 2015. Section 73 of the Act makes three further changes to the remaining provisions in PACE which still treat a 17 year old as an adult.