Case files, annual single number series - Youth Court (GRS/11475)

This series comprises case files for major and minor indictable offences committed by youths between the ages of 10 and 18 years. It also includes a small number of 'in need of care' and 'criminal injuries compensation' case files.

Records date back to the late 1970's when responsibility for managing cases lay with the Children's Court of South Australia (1979 - 1993). In 1993 when the Children's Court was replaced by the Youth Court (Youth Court Act 1993), the series continued in the same format.

Files may include complaints, summons, offence reports, transcripts of interviews and court proceedings, correspondence, referrals, photographs, recognizance, affidavits, orders, applications and reasons for judgement. The files consist of A4 pages folded in half lengthwise, ranging from one page to small bundles (where copies of court transcripts are included), with the majority of files comprising a few pages.

Responsibility for management of the files lies with the Court Registry, the administrative branch of the Youth Court. The files belong to the Adelaide registry, with other metropolitan and regional registries maintaining their own records. In some instances files have emanated from other courts but have been forwarded to the Adelaide registry to be dealt with and were then integrated into the Adelaide filing system.

With the exception of a few documents dated 1978 to 1981, inadvertently preserved due to incorrect filing in later years, files prior to 1982 are no longer in existence, having been disposed of according to a 1986 Magistrates Court disposal schedule (see p14 of RDS 2002/21 v 1).

Arranged by annual single number (with gaps). Placement of year varies eg. 82/2032 or 2032/82. The files were originally controlled by a card index, which as at Feb 2008, has not been transferred.

In 1991 the Courts Administration Authority began the use of an electronic Records Management System, and the use of the ACC prefix (denoting Adelaide Children's Court) began, which up until this time, had been used intermittently as part of the the file numbers. Some files in this series are titled with "dummy file". This indicates that the original file was forwarded to another Court, e.g. regional court, where the case was being heard, but a copy of the file and any documents were retained by Adelaide Youth Court as a safeguard against the loss of the original. These copies were titled "dummy file". All files are required to be retained permanently.