Youth Courts will take a new approach to cases, focused on underlying issues and supporting needs

Singapore Law Watch

7 days ago

Youth Courts will take a new approach to cases, focused on underlying issues and supporting needs
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 24 Jul 2025
Author: Theresa Tan
Aim is for one-time intervention that sets young people on new and better path.
A new approach, which focuses on addressing the issues that underlie why a person ends up in court, will be used to manage young offenders and other cases in the Youth Courts.
The Family Justice Courts (FJC) will assign a dedicated multidisciplinary team – such as the same judge and the same counsellor or psychologist – to manage selected cases from start to end, under the therapeutic justice approach.
This would give the team a deeper understanding of each case and the issues involved, build trust and provide more holistic support to the individuals or families involved.
Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon announced this on July 23 at the official opening of the FJC building, which was officiated by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
The FJC – which comprise the Family Division of the High Court, the Family Courts and the Youth Courts – have moved into the iconic octagonal building in Havelock Square that once housed the State Courts.
The therapeutic justice approach is already used for divorce cases, where the focus is on problem-solving and helping parents manage conflict and co-parent, instead of the prior adversarial approach.
Chief Justice Menon said the same principles will guide Youth Courts cases: 'In this paradigm, underlying issues that shape a young person's behaviour and circumstances should be identified and addressed together with the legal issues before the court whenever possible.'
He said: 'Children and young persons deserve nothing less than a supportive system that keeps them safe, addresses their underlying needs and sets them on a path towards a better future – whether the presenting issue is criminal conduct, family conflict or parental neglect.'
Besides youth offenders' cases, the Youth Courts also hear applications for the care and protection of children, such as those who have been abused by their parents.
In 2024, there were 882 cases in the Youth Courts.
The Chief Justice said that multidisciplinary teams from both the Family and Youth courts will aim to work together if a family has concurrent proceedings in both courts to provide a more coordinated response to the family's needs.
He said: 'Such a collective approach will promote shared understanding between teams, facilitate exchanges on any safety or risk concerns, and encourage timely referrals to therapeutic support services, all while ensuring that the confidentiality of information is not compromised.'
The Youth Courts will explore the use of a new tool – a Visionary Map – to guide youth offenders through structured reflection on their past choices and encourage change.
Chief Justice Menon said the Youth Courts will adopt a 'whole of community' approach where the courts, parents, social workers, educators and community partners will come together to support each young person.
For example, the FJC will explore ways to identify students who are not in school – for example, those suspended or expelled – and work with different partners to help them return to school.
Chief Justice Menon said the therapeutic justice principles will complement existing practices at the Youth Courts, which are already centred on rehabilitation.
He said: 'In the future that we are striving to create, every child or young person who enters our justice system should leave with the tools that will ensure that they need never come back.
'Our aim is not to be a revolving door, but a one-time intervention that sets a life on a new and better path.'
In response to queries about when these new measures will take effect, a Singapore Courts spokesperson told The Straits Times that some, like the Visionary Map, have been piloted. They will also work with other groups to expand the pilot phase of its 'whole-of-community' approach.
They will soon be deploying multidisciplinary teams to handle selected cases in the Youth Courts, adding that more details will be released in due course.
Lawyer Josephus Tan, a panel adviser to the Youth Courts, said that currently young offenders may come before different judges and other professionals in court.
He said: 'It can be very frightening for a child to go through the legal process, which can be very cold. So it's reassuring for the child to see familiar faces and the same team from start to end.'
And if the child has a case pending at the Youth Courts, while his parents have another case at FJC, bringing both courts' multidisciplinary teams together helps them better understand the child's needs from multiple fronts.
Turning to other cases, Chief Justice Menon said the FJC are now coming up with an online dispute resolution platform that could transform existing court processes and allow applications for maintenance to be resolved expediently.
A key feature is an algorithm that suggests reasonable maintenance amounts for former wives, or for children.
The Chief Justice said: 'The platform exemplifies a core principle of therapeutic justice – that families should be empowered to find their own solutions and resolve their disputes with minimal intervention by external adjudicators, but with as much access to relevant information as possible.'
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
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