PART 26: YOUTH COURTS

230. Application and Appeals

231. Magistrate’s complaints (private summonses)

232. Application for Court Records for Youth Courts matters

233. Initiation of prosecution

234. Charges

235. Checklists

236. Applications

237. Bundles of authorities for Youth Courts Proceedings

238. Documents

239. Documents which cannot be converted into electronic format

240. Amendment of charges and documents

241. Noting of appearances of solicitors / prosecutors

242. Limits on size and number of documents submitted using the ICMS

243. Giving evidence through live video or television link

244. Documents for use in criminal trials

230. Application and Appeals

Application

(1) The directions in this Part must be read in conjunction with the Criminal Procedure Code (Electronic Filing and Service for State Courts and Youth Courts) Regulations 2013.

Appeals

(2) Skeletal arguments must be filed at least 10 days before the hearing. Hard copies of the bundles of authorities and skeletal arguments shall be tendered to the Registry at the same time as they are filed.

231. Magistrate’s complaints (private summonses)

(1) Framing of criminal charges

Solicitors representing the complainants (save in maintenance cases) are to frame and submit the charges when the complaints are filed. This will facilitate the immediate issuance of the summons if it is so ordered by the Duty Judge.

(2) Infringement of copyright / trademarks

Magistrate’s complaints involving infringement of copyright / trademarks must be sworn by authorised representatives. A letter of authorization to that effect must be attached to the complaint.

(3) Service of summons by solicitors’ clerks

(a) Solicitors are informed that any summons issued pursuant to Section 153 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 must be served at least 7 days before the return date of the summons if such service is undertaken by the firm’s clerk. This is because the authorization to serve will lapse 7 days before the return date.

(b) If the summons is already served on the respondent 7 days before the mention date, the attached summons must be returned to the Registry immediately after service. Failure to do so will result in the summons not being listed for mention.

(c) If the summons cannot be served on the respondent 1 week before the mention date, the authorization to serve will lapse. In order to obtain further authorization for the firm’s clerk to serve the summons on the respondent or to obtain an extension of the return date, the solicitor must appear before the Duty Judge not later than 5 days before the return date. Failure to comply with this may result in the complaint being struck off the list.

232. Application for Court Records for Youth Courts matters

(1) An application for a copy of any part of the record of any proceedings for a case registered via the Integrated Case Management System (“ICMS”) must be made via the ICMS portal under “Request for Court Records”.

(2) Applications for all other cases must be made in Form 48 of Appendix A of these Practice Directions.

(3) On approval of an application that has been electronically filed via the ICMS, the record of proceedings will be available for online downloading via the ICMS portal or collection depending on the delivery mode chosen.

(4) Upon approval of an application for all other cases, and for ICMS cases where the mode of collection chosen is at the counter, the requisite number of copies of the record of proceedings applied for shall be made available for collection by the applicant for a period of 21 calendar days from the date specified in the notification given to the applicant by the Registry.

(5) Where the copy of any record of proceedings applied for is not collected by the applicant within the time given by sub-paragraph (4), the copy of the record of proceedings shall be disposed of and the applicant must make a fresh application if he or she still requires a copy of the relevant record of proceedings.

(6) The relevant fee prescribed by the Criminal Procedure Code (Prescribed Fees) Regulations 2013 must be paid by the applicant at the time he or she makes the application.

(7) The applicant shall be allowed to download or collect the copy of the record of proceedings applied for only if the fees payable therefor, including any balance fee payable, have been fully paid by him or her.

(8) Any application for the waiver or remission of any fee payable for a copy of any record of proceedings may be made to the Registrar and the grant of such an application shall be in the absolute discretion of the Registrar.

233. Initiation of prosecution

All criminal prosecutions instituted by or on behalf of the Public Prosecutor, a police officer, an officer from a law enforcement agency, or a person acting with the authority of a public body against one or more accused, whether or not represented by a solicitor, must be initiated by electronic filing.

234. Charges

(1) All new and amended charges must be electronically filed prior to the scheduled Court session.

(2) The charges must be in Word Document format (.doc or .docx) or in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

(3) The charge sheet for each distinct offence must be electronically filed separately, and the system will assign and stamp a unique number on each charge sheet.

(4) The investigation officer or prosecutor framing the charge is not required to sign the charge but must key in “ /s/ ” followed by his or her name above his or her personal information in the charge sheet.

235. Checklists

(1) For every Mention (“FM” / “FFM”); Case Conference (“CC”); Criminal Case Disclosure Conference (“CCDC”) and Plead Guilty Mention (“FM(PG)”), there will be a corresponding Mentions Checklist, CC/CCDC checklist and PG checklist for the Court event in the electronic case file.

(2) Except for the first appearance in Court by defence counsel, defence counsel is required to submit the Mentions or CC checklist indicating the affirmative position of the accused. The submission may be made at any time prior to the commencement of the scheduled Court event.

(3) Prosecutors are required to submit the Mentions or CC checklists indicating the prosecution’s affirmative position. The submission may be made at any time prior to the commencement of the scheduled Court event.

(4) The PG checklist need not be re-submitted if the position of the prosecution on the charge(s) has been indicated and remains the same.

(5) For CCDCs, the checklist is only required to be submitted before the scheduled Court event by the party applying for an adjournment.

236. Applications

(1) All applications which have been specifically provided for must be electronically filed. These include applications relating to the initiation of any criminal process or criminal matter or which require a direction or Court order before the scheduled Court session.

(2) An application which is not electronically filed in accordance with the directions contained in this Part shall be rejected.

(3) The prosecution or defence must notify the party who is unrepresented of its application.

237. Bundles of authorities for Youth Courts Proceedings

(1) In all Youth Courts proceedings, solicitors shall submit their own bundle of authorities.

(2) In this regard, the requirements set out in paragraphs 124(5) to (11) of these Practice Directions shall apply to bundles of authorities submitted to the Youth Courts.

238. Documents

(1) Except for the Statement of Facts and Schedule of Offences, all documents must be electronically filed using the Portable Document Format (PDF).

(2) The Statement of Facts and the Schedule of Offences may be filed in Word Document Format (.doc or .docx).

(3) The investigation officer or prosecutor putting up the Statement of Facts must key in “ /s/ ” followed by his or her name.

(4) The proper document type must be selected and a clear and appropriate document title must be entered. The document title should not be abbreviated.

(5) It is not necessary for documents to have a cover page or backing sheet.

(6) Every page of a document must be paginated consecutively so that the pagination on the actual document corresponds with the pagination of the Portable Document Format (PDF) document in the electronic case file, and the page number must be inserted at the centre top of the page.

(7) The prosecution or defence must provide hard copies of documents that are electronically filed to the unrepresented litigant.

239. Documents which cannot be converted into electronic format

(1) If a document cannot be converted in whole or in part into an electronic format for any reason, the hard copy of the document must be tendered to the Court.

(2) A document which is not wholly converted into an electronic format without good reason may be rejected as the Court sees fit.

240. Amendment of charges and documents

Where a charge or document is required to be amended, a fresh copy of the charge or document must be produced and electronically filed, regardless of the number and length of the amendments sought to be made.

241. Noting of appearances of solicitors / prosecutors

(1) To facilitate the contacting of solicitors and prosecutors having conduct of matters in the Youth Courts, solicitors and prosecutors appearing in cases must each fill in a Form 49 of Appendix A of these Practice Directions and hand the duly completed form to the Court officer before their cases are mentioned.

(2) This practice applies to all mentions and trials in the Youth Courts.

(3) The forms will be placed on all bar tables.

242. Limits on size and number of documents submitted using the ICMS

(1) The following limits shall apply to the filing of documents:

(a) the total number of pages in a single document must not exceed 999;

(b) the size of a single transmission must not exceed 50 mega-bytes.

(2) The resolution for scanning, unless otherwise directed by the Court, must be no more than 300 DPI.

(3) In the event that any party wishes to file documents which exceed the limits specified in sub-paragraph (1), he or she may make multiple submissions.

243. Giving evidence through live video or television link

(1) A witness (including the youth offender) may, with the Youth Courts’ permission, give evidence through a live video or live television link in any trial, inquiry, appeal or other proceedings as specified in section 281 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010.

(2) The application for permission should be made as early as practicable. In addition to the need for timeliness,

(a) where the application is for the youth to give evidence by means of a live video or live television link under section 281(5A) of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, the application should state:

(i) where the youth will be giving evidence from (whether a place within a Court, a prison, an approved centre or institution in Singapore as defined in the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 or any other place in Singapore);

(ii) the administrative and technical facilities and arrangements to be made at the place from which the youth is to make an appearance or to give evidence from; and

(iii) the reasons for making such an application, and in particular, why it would be in the interests of justice to allow the application;

(b) where the application is for a witness (not being the youth) who is not in Singapore to give evidence from a place that is not in Singapore by means of a live video or live television link, the application should also state:

(i) whether the witness is a witness specified in section 281(5B)(c) of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, and if so, the capacity of the witness (e.g, an expert witness, factual witness or otherwise);

(ii) the administrative and technical facilities and arrangements to be made at the place from which the witness is to give evidence; and

(iii) the reasons for making such an application, and in particular, why it would be in the interests of justice to allow the application.

(3) The Court may, in a proper case, permit appropriate person(s) to be present with the witness (including a youth offender giving evidence as a witness, where appropriate) at the place where the witness is giving evidence from. Such person(s) may include a parent, a guardian, an officer of the Court, a counsellor, a social worker or any such other person(s) as the Court deems fit.

(4) If a youth is not represented by a solicitor, the Judge will explain to him or her the process of a witness or the youth (as the case may be) giving evidence through a video link.

(5) Microphones have been installed for the Judge, prosecutor, solicitor, witness, interpreter and the youth who are physically in Court. The oral proceedings, including the testimony of the witness, will be relayed and broadcast through the courtroom speaker system. When a video link session is in progress, prosecutors and solicitors who are physically in Court are reminded to speak clearly and slowly into the microphones which are placed on the tables. In order to ensure clarity in the audio transmissions, no two persons should speak simultaneously into the microphones.

244. Documents for use in criminal trials

(1) The party intending to tender a document as evidence to the Youth Courts during a trial must file an electronic copy of the document.

(2) The Court may, in its discretion, allow a party to tender a document as evidence during a trial, notwithstanding that the party has not complied with the requirements of this Part.

(3) The electronic copy must tally in all respects with the hard copy as it will form part of the electronic case file.

(4) If another party objects to the admissibility of certain documents, those documents on which agreement cannot be reached must not be electronically filed. A hard copy of those documents must be tendered at the trial.

(5) The importance of not submitting unnecessarily large electronic files is emphasised. If there are a large number of documents to be tendered, parties should submit an electronic copy of the documents stored on a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or such other storage medium acceptable to the Registrar instead of electronically filing the documents. These documents will be uploaded into the case file by the Court officer and will form part of the electronic case file.

(6) Parties may obtain directions of the Court if they are uncertain if the documents should be electronically filed, submitted on a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or such other storage medium, or tendered by hard copy.

(7) The party tendering document(s) at trial (i.e., the prosecution or defence) must provide hard copies of the document(s) at trial to the unrepresented party and to the witness.