Juvenile Measures
When a juvenile is charged with an offence, it should take place in the presence of an appropriate adult. The appropriate adult should also be given details of the offence charged and names of the officers and the station.
The officer may release the juvenile with or without bail. If the officer believes that the juvenile will not attend or has given a false address or may commit further offences, continued detention may be ordered. Children may be detained in a place of safety, which will usually be a juvenile justice Centre.
The child may be released into the care of an appropriate adult, who may be a parent or a social worker. If there is insufficient accommodation available in the social services, then the child may be detained in a place of safety.
It is presumed that children should be released on bail if the offence is not serious and there are no concerns about protecting the public. Where bail is denied, children are remanded to a juvenile justice Centre, or if they are over 15, to a young offenders Centre.
Children who are given a custodial sentence or placed in detention in a juvenile justice Centre or in secure accommodation under the custody care order (in the case of offenders under 14) may be detained as determined by the Secretary of State for a specified period. The child may be detained at a young offender Centre, juvenile justice Centre, or a prison. They may be released by the Secretary of State on license.
When a child is detained in a juvenile justice Centre, there is a custodial and training and guidance element aimed at dissuading the juvenile from criminal activity post-release. The order is generally for six months, unless a longer period is specified, up to a maximum of two years.
Half of the period is spent in a juvenile justice Centre, and the remaining half is under the supervision of a probation officer. A juvenile justice Centre is a secure facility.
After the order is made, the probation court, board, or officer interviews the child, along with their parents, and provides information for use by the Centre. The staff at the Centre will seek the basis of a plan. Before release, a supervision plan is agreed upon, to be signed by the parent and child. A supervising probation officer is heavily involved in the first few months after release, meeting every few days. The level of supervision will depend on the risk to the public.
Breach of the supervision is an offence. The court may fine the juvenile and order them to be detained in a juvenile justice Centre for up to 30 days.
Children subject to the order are regulated under the Juvenile Justice Centre Rules (Northern Ireland). Children in custody are to be treated with fairness, dignity, and respect at all times. Their personal circumstances are to be taken into account, and they are entitled to contribute to decisions that affect them.
They are to have access to services and facilities, regardless of their custody status. The custodial environment is to be stable, and the level of control is to fit the needs and interests of the children, the community, and maintaining good order. Children are encouraged to maintain links with their families and persons responsible for them.
An attendance Centre order may be made for children aged 10 to 16. This order requires them to attend a Centre for instruction and training.
The order will specify the total number of attendance orders required, and the court will set dates for attendance and subsequent attendance. Attendance typically lasts up to three hours a day and may be for periods of 12 to 24 hours.
A reparation order requires the child offender to make non-financial restitution to the victim or the larger community. The maximum reparation is 24 hours, and the consent of the victim is necessary. The maximum reparation is 4 hours per day for those over 14 and one hour per day for those below that age. The obligations are to be undertaken within six months of the order.
The court considers recommendations from a reporting probation officer or social worker and tailors the reparation accordingly. The offender must consent to the order.
If a reparation order is breached, an attendance order may be required. The reparation order requires the offender’s consent. If it is breached, the offender may be dealt with as if it were a trial.
A court-ordered youth conference seeks to agree on a plan of action for dealing with an offence and an offender in accordance with the principles of restorative justice. There are diversionary youth conferences that aim to divert children away from the criminal justice system. A court-ordered youth conference follows a conviction, and a court may order it in cases other than serious indictable crimes or scheduled offences that would attract a fixed sentence for an adult.
A child consents to participation, and if the child withdraws consent, the conference concludes, and certain consequences follow.
A court-ordered youth conference may involve a recommendation that the court deals with the child in a specific way or that the child be subject to a custodial sentence and a youth conference plan.
The plan is devised and may include various elements, such as an apology, reparation to the victim or community, payment for damage to property, submission to the supervision of an adult, unpaid community work or service, participation in activities, addressing offending behavior, submission to restrictions on custody and whereabouts, or seeking treatment for mental health conditions or drug or alcohol dependency.
A youth conference order requires the child to comply with the plan arising from the youth conference, with the consent of the child. If the order is breached, it is dealt with in the same manner as a community responsibility order or reparation order.
A custody care order applies to child offenders under 14 and places them in secure accommodation followed by supervision. The order is usually for six months but may extend up to two years. The first half is in custody, and the second half is under supervision. If the child turns 14 during the order, they may be detained in a juvenile justice Centre.
The order is made if the court determines that a custodial sentence is inappropriate.
When a child is in secured accommodation, they are treated as a child in need under the Children’s Order. A child who escapes may be arrested without a warrant and subject to further 30 days of detention.
The original order may be revoked, and the person treated as if they had been found guilty of the original offence. Breach of the order may result in a fine, with fines of £200 for children aged 10 to 14 and £1000 for those over 14, along with up to 30 days in a juvenile justice Centre.
It is not lawful for a summary jurisdiction court to impose a fine exceeding level 1 on the standard scale for a child under 14 and level 3 in any other case.
When a child is found guilty of an offence for which a fine or compensation may be imposed, the court may order their parents to enter into a recognizance as security for their good behavior. When the court makes an attendance Centre order for the child, it may also order the parent or guardian to enter into a recognizance for the child’s compliance.
Legislation not currently in force deals with parental compensation orders. A magistrates’ court may make an order on the application of a specified person if the court is satisfied, based on the civil standard of proof, that the child has caused loss or damage to property or has acted in a manner causing harassment, alarm, or distress to one or more persons not in the same household, and the child would have committed an offence if aged 10 or over. The court order may be made in the interest of preventing a repetition of the behavior in question.
A parental compensation order requires a specified person who is a parent or guardian of the child to pay compensation of an amount specified in the order. The maximum compensation may not exceed £5000, and the sum may be increased by order of the Secretary of State.
In specifying the amount of compensation, the court considers factors such as the value of property taken or damaged, further loss resulting from the property’s loss or damage, any reparation made, the means of those specified in the order to pay the compensation, and whether there was specified in the order to pay the compensation insofar as the court can ascertain them; whether there was a lack of care on the part of persons affected by the taking of the property which made it easier for the child to do so.
The court may order the parents to make a statement of the financial circumstances. Failure to do so is an offence. Making of a false statement is an offence.
The court is to take account of the views of the person to whom the payment is required in deciding whether to make the order. Before making the order, the court is to obtain and consider information about the child’s family circumstances, and the likely effect of the order on those circumstances.
There is provision for an appeal to the county court. Damages in civil proceedings are assessed without reference to the parental compensation order. However, the claimant may only recover the total loss so that credit must be given for the portion of the compensation order.