sentenCes - Department of Justice

Custody
for Children
in Northern
Ireland
WE WANT TO
HEAR WHAT
YOU THINK
rights
remand
yoc
jjc
sentences
probation
judge
1

introduction
introduction
In this Country
»»
Anyone aged 10 and above can be prosecuted for committing a crime
»»
The justice system is split in two: one part deals with children and one part deals with adults
»»
The justice system classifies you as a ‘child’ if you are under 18
This means that although children can be prosecuted for a crime and sent to custody from the
age of 10 and above, they will be treated differently from people who are over 18.
Evidence from countries around the world has shown that it is best to treat children and
young people who are involved in crime differently to adults.
That is why we have a special youth court and judges normally give different sentences to
people under 18. For very serious crimes like very violent or sexual offences, young people
can go to the Crown Court instead of the Youth Court and they can get harder sentences.
Sentences a judge can normally give if people under 18 include fines, conditional
discharges, youth conferencing and for serious or repeat offending, children and
young people can be sent to custody.
Until recently, if someone under 18 was given ‘custody’ by a judge as a way
to try to stop them offending again, this meant they would have to live in
either Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre for a while, or in Hydebank
Young Offenders Centre. A Juvenile Justice Centre Order (JJCO)
means you are sent to Woodlands and a YOC Order means you are
sent to Hydebank Wood.
As well as this, children and young people could be kept
in Woodlands or Hydebank Wood ‘on remand’. This is
when the police and courts believe that someone has
committed an offence, but it has not been proved
yet and they are waiting to go to court to have it
decided.
2

introduction
Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre is
part of the Northern Ireland Prison Service
and houses all men aged 18-21 who are sent
to prison by the courts.
All adult women prisoners
are kept at Hydebank Wood
but in a separate prison. The
Prison Service also runs two
other prisons in Northern
Ireland. The staff who
work with young people in
Hydebank Wood are mostly
prison officers.
Woodlands Juvenile Justice
Centre was built especially for
children and young people
and is part of the Youth Justice
Agency, which also has other
services that aim to help
children and young people
under 18 stop offending.
Why this
consultation?
Some of the
things we want
to find out in this
consultation are:
Justice
System
How the justice
system should
work with children
and young people
who are sent to
custody.
children &
Young People
How this might
affect children
and young
people.
The staff who work with young people in
Woodlands are residential social workers and
teachers.
In 2011 a group of experts
(the Youth Justice Review
team) said that Hydebank
Young Offenders Centre
was not the right place for
children and young people
under 18 to be kept. From
November 2012 nobody
under the age of 18 has been
kept in Hydebank.
Other experts like the Prison
Review team and Criminal
Justice Inspectors have also
said this. This is not a law
yet though, which means
that a judge could send a
young person under 18 to
Hydebank if they wanted to.
This consultation is NOT asking about young people
who have committed very violent or sexual crimes.
3

Getting your
rights
Getting
your rights
UNCRC
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a list of rights that has
been agreed to by the government. This means that when anyone is working with children
and young people, including the justice system, they should be doing their best to make
sure that these rights are being met.
One of these rights (Article 3) says:
“In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public
or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative
authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a
primary consideration.”
This means that anyone working with young people under 18
has to do whatever is best for them and that they should be
protected from harm.
4

Getting your
rights
Q1
How
can we best protect young people from harm if they are sent
to custody in Northern Ireland, to either Hydebank Wood Young
Offenders Centre or to Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre?
Another of the UNCRC rights (Article 37) says:
“The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a
child shall be in conformity with the law and
shall be used only as a measure of last resort and
for the shortest appropriate period of time.”
This means that young people under 18
should only be kept in custody:
1. if it is not breaking the law;
2. if there are no other options; and
3. for as short a time as possible.
Q2
How
can we try to make sure that young people are given this
right and what needs to happen to make sure:
a) That putting a young person in custody is not breaking the law?
b) That young people are only kept in custody when there are no
other options? and
c) That young people are only kept in custody for as short a time
as possible?
5

SENTENCES
SENTENCES
The minimum length of a Juvenile Justice Centre Order is six months. The first half of a
JJC Order is always spent in Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre and the second half on a
supervision and support programme to help them keep out of trouble and avoid more
offending once they are out.
There is no minimum length for a YOC Order, but if someone is given a YOC
Order of 12 months or more by a judge, they will have to spend at least half of
it on a support and supervision programme when they get out – this is called
being ‘on licence’.
For most crimes, the maximum length that a Juvenile Justice Centre
Order can be is two years - one year in the JJC and one year on a
support and supervision programme. The maximum length for
a YOC Order is normally four years – but for very serious
offences like murder or rape, a judge is allowed to give
longer sentences to young people under 18.
]
2 yrs
JJC
[ [
6 mths
4 yrs
] yoc
n/a
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SENTENCES
Q3
Should
there be a minimum and maximum length of sentence that
a judge can give a child or young person? Why / why not and if you
think there should, what should these be? Should it be the same for
all children and young people 10 to 17?
For the second half of Juvenile Justice
Centre Orders, when a young person is
‘on supervision’ after they come out of
Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre, they
have to work with either a probation officer
or someone from the Youth Justice Agency.
They will do things with them to help them
stay out of trouble and go back to being in
their communities, schools and families
again. This could mean things like:
1. Education or training programmes;
2. Work to help them understand how
victims of crime are affected;
3. Other activities that they might need
If they do not do the things they are meant to
do, they can be fined or they can be brought
back into the Juvenile Justice Centre for up to
30 days and they will still be on supervision
when they come out.
If a young person is ‘on licence’ when they
get out of Hydebank Wood Young Offenders
Centre, they will also have to do certain
things:
1. They will have to go to regular
appointments with a probation officer or
someone from the Youth Justice Agency;
2. They might have to do certain
programmes like drug and alcohol
counselling;
3. They might be banned from going to
certain places, like the place where their
offence was committed.
If they do not stick to these then they can
be brought back to Hydebank Wood Young
Offenders Centre.
7

SENTENCES
Q4
Should
all sentences include support and supervision programmes
when a child or young person gets out of custody? If so, should this
be the same for all children and young people aged 10 to 17?
Q5
How long should young people be on supervision or on licence for?
Should it always be 50% of their sentence, or should it be left up to
a judge to decide?
Q6
Who
should work with young people for the second part of their
sentence (outside of custody) – probation officers or staff from the
Youth Justice Agency? Why?
8

SENTENCES
Q7
What
other sort of sentences could be used instead of Juvenile
Justice Centre Orders and YOC Orders? Would it be better to
design new sentences?
Q8
Should
there be different sentencing rules for different ages of
children and young people? E.g. should there be rules so judges
could not give the same sentences to 10-12 year olds as they could
to 13-15 year olds and different ones again for 16-18 year olds?
yoc/JJC
order suspensions
YOC Order
A YOC Order can be ‘suspended’ by judges when they give
it to a young person. This means that they will not have to go
and live in the YOC unless they commit more crimes before
the sentence is finished.
JJC Order
A JJC Order cannot be suspended.
9

Getting your
rights
Q9
Do
you think there should be the option to suspend a sentence and
if so should it apply to all children and young people aged 10 to 17?
Q10
Do you think there should be a minimum age that young people
should be allowed to be sent to custody for less serious crimes?
If so, what should this be?
10 - 17 years old
10

HYDEBANK OR
WOODLANDS
HYDEBANK
OR WOODLANDS
Turning 18 whilst in Juvenile Justice Centre
For some young people who are given a Juvenile Justice Centre Order when they are 16 or 17,
it means they would turn 18 when they are still in the Juvenile Justice Centre, which is only
meant to be for young people under 18.
Three options are being thought about for when this happens
1. All young people who turn 18 when they are in the Juvenile Justice Centre
are transferred to Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre; or
2. If a young person only has a short amount of time left of their
sentence to go after their 18th birthday, they stay in Woodlands
until the sentence is finished; or
3. Whether or not a young person stays in the Juvenile Justice
Centre after they turn 18 could depend on other things, like:
»»
How mature they are; or
»»
If Woodlands is a better place for them than
Hydebank Wood would be; or
»»
If they are in the middle of an education
or training programme at Woodlands.
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HYDEBANK OR
WOODLANDS
Q11
Which of these three options do you think would be best and why?
Q12
If you think option 2 is best, how long should a young person be
allowed to stay after their 18th birthday ?
If you think option 3 is best, who should make the decision?
(For example, Woodlands staff, probation officer, psychologists,
social workers, a group of people, young people themselves,
a judge taking advice from other people?)
12

HYDEBANK OR
WOODLANDS
Q13
Do you think there is a better way to decide when a young person
should move from Woodlands to Hydebank Wood?
One of the rights (Article 37c) in the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) says:
“…every child deprived of liberty shall be separated
from adults unless it is considered in the child’s best
interest not to do so …”
This means that no one under 18 who is sent to custody
should live in the same place as anyone over 18.
Hydebank Wood is for people over 18 years old and this
is the reason why some people believe that nobody under
18 should be sent there.
Other groups of experts who have said Hydebank Wood
Young Offenders Centre is not a good place for children
and young people under 18 to be are the Youth Justice
Review team, the Prison Review team and the Criminal
Justice Inspection.
This is why the Department of Justice wants anyone who
is under 18 and is sent to custody to go to Woodlands
Juvenile Justice Centre instead.
But some people are worried that there are a small number
of under 18 young people who might be dangerous and
could harm themselves or other young people and staff.
Hydebank Wood is better able to keep these young people
separate from others to stop this happening.
so There are
three options
The three options are
being thought about are:
Option 1
Everyone under 18 should
go to Woodlands because
this is the best place for all
children and young people
to be.
Option 2
Woodlands should have a
special unit with specially
trained staff for children and
young people who might
harm other young people
and staff or themselves.
Option 2
Some young people should
go to Hydebank Wood if
there is a risk they might
harm other young people
or staff, even if it is not the
best place for children and
young people to be?
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Getting your
rights
Q13
Which of these options do you think is best and why?
Q15
If you chose option 3, who do you think should decide who goes
to Hydebank Wood and who goes to Woodlands? For example,
Justice Minister, a judge, the director of Woodlands, probation
officers, social workers, psychologists, a group of people, young
people themselves, someone else?
14

Remand
remand
Some young people are kept in Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre and Woodlands Juvenile
Justice Centre ‘on remand’. This means they have not been convicted of a crime, but have been
arrested for one and are waiting to go to court about it.
The Department of Justice wants to make sure that all children and young people aged 10 to
17 go to Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre when they are on remand.
Q16
Do you agree that all young people under 18 on remand should be
kept in Woodlands?
Q17
Do you think the law should allow children to be kept on remand so
that more can be found out about them and about the offences that
they have been accused of?
15

Fines
Fines
Changes to the law
The law has been changed so that that if a child or young person aged 10 to 17 does not pay
a fine, they cannot be sent to Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre, but the law was NOT
changed to stop under 18s being sent to Hydebank Wood.
Q18
Do you think that courts should still be allowed to send young
people under 18 to custody if they do not pay a fine, and if so,
should this be for ALL children and young people aged 10 to 17?
Q19
What other sort of sentences should there be
instead of custody for people who do not pay
their fines?
16

Useful
Links
other useful
documents & links
= This is a short version of the
consultation document and has
been written by Include Youth.
You can get more copies of it and
find out more about Include Youth
at:
www.includeyouth.org
= This document asks the most
important questions and has the
same information about these
as the longer version, but is just
written differently. If you would like
a full version of the consultation
document you can get one from:
www.dojni.gov.uk
= You can find out more about
the Youth Justice Agency and the
Juvenile Justice Centre at:
www.youthjusticeagencyni.gov.uk
= The United Nations
Convention in the Rights of the
Child (UNCRC) is a list of rights
that 193 countries have agreed
to, including the UK and Ireland.
These rights include about how
children and young people should
be treated if they break the law. You
can read all of these and find out
more about the UNCRC at:
www.niccy.org
= In 2010 a group of experts in
children, young people and crime
called the Youth Justice Review
Team were asked by politicians to
look at the youth justice system in
Northern Ireland. One thing that
they said was that all children and
young people under 18 sent to
custody should go to Woodlands
Juvenile Justice Centre instead of
some going to Hydebank Wood
Young Offenders Centre. You can
get a copy of their report at:
= In 2011 a group of experts
on prisons and crime called
the Prison Review Team were
asked by politicians to look at
the management and conditions
within all 3 prisons in Northern
Ireland, including Hydebank Wood
Young Offenders Centre. One
of the things they said was that
Hydebank Wood was an unsuitable
place for people under 18. You can
get a copy of their report at:
www.prisonreviewni.gov.uk
= You can find out more about
the Northern Ireland Prison
Service and Hydebank Wood
Young Offenders Centre at:
http://www.dojni.gov.uk/youthjustice-review
http://www.dojni.gov.uk/currentprison-service-ni/current-prisonestate.htm
= Criminal Justice Inspection
Northern Ireland inspects all parts
of the justice system including all
prisons in Northern Ireland. In
2011 it said that children under 18
should not be kept in Hydebank
Wood Young Offenders Centre.
You can get a copy of the report
where they said this at:
www.cjini.org
= You can find out more about
different sentences, courts and
laws for children and young
people who are involved in the
justice system at:
www.legislation.gov.uk
17

Useful
Links
Q20
Any other comments?
YOUR OPINIONS
Tell the Department of Justice what you think by January 10 th 2014
by 5pm. Fill in these pages and send them to:
Z
Youth Justice Unit
Reducing Offending Division
Department of Justice
Castle Buildings
Stormont Estate
Belfast, BT4 3SG
m
N
Or email what you think to:
yjpu@dojni.x.gsi.gov.uk
Or by text phone:
028 9016 3426
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