The Juvenile Secure Estate
When no alternative is appropriate, due to the seriousness of
the offence, the history of the offender or the risk to the public,
young offenders will be sentenced to custody.
There are three types of secure accommodation in which a young
person can be placed. Together these make up the juvenile secure
estate.
Secure Training Centres (STCs)
Local Authority Secure Children's Homes (LASCHs)
Young Offender Institutions (YOIs).
The main custodial sentence is the Detention and Training Order,
but for more serious offences a young person will be given a
sentence under Section 90/91.
The Youth Justice Board is reponsible for placing young people
in appropriate secure accommodation and setting the standards for
these facilities.
In November 2004, the Board issued its draft Strategy for the
Secure Estate for Juveniles for consultation.
The juvenile secure estate has improved significantly since the
Youth Justice Board was formed.
- There are better education facilities and enhanced regimes,
with more time out of cells.
- Juveniles are now held separately from young adults.
- More places are available for vulnerable and younger children
outside the Prison Service.
- There has been an overall reduction in the number of under-18s
in custody.
But more needs to be done to ensure that the standards seen in
the best establishments are extended across the whole estate.
Staff in custodial establishments should be trained specifically
to deal with children. The Board is working with the Prison Service
to provide training for all prison officers.
The Board is also focusing on ensuring that more is done in the
juvenile secure estate to address drug and alcohol problems,
behavioural and mental health problems, and education.
Detention & Training Orders (DTO)
The Detention & Training Order (DTO) sentences a young
person to custody. It can be given to 12 to 17 year-olds. The
length of the sentence can be between four months and two years.
The first half of the sentence is spent in custody whilst the
second half is spent in the community under the supervision of the
Youth Offending Team. The court can require the young person to be
on an
Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) as a
condition of the community period of the sentence.
A DTO is only given by the courts to young people who represent
a high level of risk, have a significant offending history or are
persistent offenders and where no other sentence will manage their
risks effectively. The seriousness of the offence is always taken
into account when a young person is sentenced to a DTO.
Section 90/91
If a young person is convicted of an offence for which an adult
could receive at least 14 years in custody, they may be sentenced
under Section 90/91. This sentence can only be given in the Crown
Court.
If the conviction is for murder, the sentence falls under
Section 90, otherwise the sentence will be under Section 91. The
length of the sentence can be anywhere up to the adult maximum for
the same offence, which for certain offences may be life.
A young person given a Section 90/91 sentence will be placed in
custody.
If they are sentenced to less then four years, they will leave
custody at the halfway point of their sentence and be supervised on
licence by their Supervising Officer until the three-quarters
point. If certain conditions apply, the young person may be
released on a tag up to 134 days earlier, under the Home Detention
Curfew scheme. For young people sentenced to four years or more, if
they are successful at their parole hearing, they will leave
custody at the half-way point. If they are unsuccessful, they will
leave at the two-thirds point. In both cases, they will be
supervised by their supervising officer until the three-quarters
point. |