YOUTH court magistrates in North Yorkshire have used new powers of sentencing for the first time.

From this week, anyone appearing in youth court for the first time, with no previous convictions and pleading guilty to an offence must, with minor exceptions, be given a referral order. The orders last from three months to a year, depending on the seriousness of the offence.

Five young people have appeared at court in Harrogate, Richmond and Scarborough for offences of criminal damage, drink-driving, burglary, supplying drugs, theft and assault. The length of the orders ranged from three to nine months.

They will now be assessed by North Yorkshire Offending Team members and will have to appear before youth offender panels in the next few weeks.

The panels are made up of community volunteers who have received training, together with a member of the youth offender team. At the panel meetings, the youngsters will have to enter into a contract which will be supervised by the youth offending team.

The contracts must contain a programme designed to tackle the young person's offending behaviour and an element of reparation directly to the victim of the offence, or to the community.