childcare-50years

5
years the percentage of cases given a conditional discharge has
varied between 22 and 28 per cent. Although, as the children who
appear before courts nowadays tend to be more serious or
persistent offenders it can be anticipated that the use by the courts
of absolute and conditional discharge will diminish in future;
• probation orders have consistently represented between a quarter
and a third of the outcomes for juvenile offenders over recent
years;
• since 1990 more use has been made of the community service
order for juveniles but overall it represents only about 3 per cent
of all disposals for juvenile offenders;
• the number of training school orders had been falling over the
past 20 years. Numbers of training school orders fell from 267 in
1986 to 140 in 1997. With the separation of juvenile offenders
from those young people requiring care, the population of the
training schools declined considerably. In 1997 there were 69
training school orders made. This fell to 52 the following year.
During this time the average number of children in residence was
88. Since the commencement of the new shorter juvenile justice
order the number of direct committals was 73 (1999) and 76 (2000)
with an average number of children in residence of 29; and
• the JJC Order is intended for only the most serious and persistent
juvenile offenders. The number of children who have been made
subject to JJC Orders, which have been available to the courts since
February 1999, has been relatively small. Fifty-one JJC Orders were
made over the first 9 months since the introduction of the new
order. The court can also make a young offender centre order in
respect of a 17 year old where it considers a custodial sentence to
be necessary. Between 20 and 50 such orders are made annually,
representing 3-6 per cent of all juvenile/youth court disposals for
juveniles in Northern Ireland. Young Offenders Centres are part of
the prison system. It is anticipated that when the new purpose
built juvenile justice centre is built there will be no need for
children under 17 years of age to enter the prison system.
50 YEARS OF CHILD CARE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
117