Members of the Wessex Youth Offending Team have been sharing their expertise with their "opposite numbers" in Philadelphia.

Tina Bradley, director of the juvenile unit of the Public Defender's office and Carol Weiner, deputy district attorney, are part of a team visiting Britain on a whistlestop tour to look at how the UK Youth Justice system works.

Tina's department provides lawyers for young people whose families are unable to afford representation in court and social workers for those whom the court deems intervention is necessary.

Carol's department is akin to that of the Crown Prosecution Service responsible for prosecuting cases in court.

During their visit to Winchester, they met the head of the Wessex Youth Offending Team, Phil Sutton, and were particularly interested to hear how police officers, social workers, probation officers, teachers and health staff all work together under one roof.

They also met Bryan Raines and Steve Glyde, who specialise in dealing with those young offenders who are in custody, working to prepare them for release

The American officials also met some of the Wessex team who work solely with the parents of young offenders, running sessions to assist their skills. They were surprised to learn that many parents attended these programmes voluntarily alongside a minority ordered to do so by the courts.

The final part of their day was spent taking in the sights of historic Winchester.