PLACEMENTS BEGINNING BEFORE 1 JANUARY

AND STILL IN COURSE

Open mode 101 985 97 6

Closed mode 43 170 51 1

Everberg 22 221 18 0

Up until 1994, custodial sentences were only possible for children aged 15-17 years, with the exception of younger children who had committed serious offences. The introduction of the Detention and Training Order meant that 12-17-year-old children could be sentenced to custody for a period of no less than four months and no more than two years.63Since 1994, juvenile cus- todial population has risen and an altogether more punitive response to offending by children has developed.64Although recorded offending by children has declined between 1994 and 2004, the number of children sentenced to penal custody increased by 90% over the same time period.65 Juvenile justice is primarily governed by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 41 of which established the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB). It is an executive non-departmental public body. The YJB claims to “work to prevent offending and re-offend- ing by children under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour”.66As well as working with all children in conflict with the law, the YJB also deals with those considered at risk of offending, through targeted prevention and early intervention.67

The minimum age of criminal responsibility is 10 years of age.68Children aged 10-17 years who are charged with an offence will appear before a Youth Court. Under certain

circumstances, the Youth Court will transfer the case to the Crown Court, which deals with both adults and children. These circumstances include being charged with homicide, with a serious offence for which an adult could be sentenced to at least 14 years imprisonment, or jointly with a person aged 18 or older. Children who have committed a minor offence for the first time can usually be dealt with by the police and local authority outside of the court system, using a variety of orders and agreements. There is a Youth Offending Team (YOT) in every local authority in England and Wales.69

The Children Act 2004 required police authorities and chief officers to cooperate with arrangements to improve the well-being of children with regards to their physical and mental health, and protection from harm and neglect. The custody officer must ensure that concerns arising from the detention of a child or young person are communicated to the appropriate agency. Information sharing is required when a child is to be released from police custody if: • There are concerns about their welfare arising from risk assessments or other available

information;

• There is a risk of significant harm to the child;

• This information may be relevant and allow agencies to protect the welfare of a child.70 In England and Wales, responses to children who offend can be divided into:

• Pre-court disposals,71anti-social behaviour measures and other measures;72and • Sentences in the community and custodial sentences.73

In cases where the child goes to court and pleads guilty or is convicted of an offence, he/she is sentenced to either a community sentence or a custodial sentence.

If pre-court disposals are not appropriate, a child is remanded on bail or remanded in cus- tody. If a court chooses remand on bail, it can be conditional or unconditional bail. A child remanded on ‘unconditional bail’ is required to return to court on a specific day at a specific time, but apart from this requirement there are no other conditions attached. ‘Conditional bail’ can range from a fairly low level where a child has to report to a police station to much more demanding levels where the child is supervised by a YOT on a bail support and super- vision programme. Electronic tagging and/or Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programmes can be included as part of bail supervision and support programmes.

‘Custodial remand’, or pre-trial detention, is used by courts for children aged 10 and above whose offences are particularly serious or who have offended frequently. Remanding a child to local authority accommodation involves the child being looked after by the local

authority. As with bail, conditions can be applied to remands to local authority accommoda- tion. Unless the type of accommodation is a condition of the remand, the local authority can choose what type of accommodation it provides for the child. Normally, an initial remand to custody will be for a maximum of eight days, but in exceptional circumstances this can be extended to 28 days. Remands to police custody are for a maximum of 24 hours, unless the defendant is 17, in which case it may be up to three days. The maximum period for which a juvenile can be held on remand (whether to local authority accommodation or to penal custody) is 70 days, although in theory the prosecution can apply to the court for an extension.74The average time spent on remand in custody is between 36-38 days.75

The Detention and Training Order (DTO) sentences a child to custody. It can be imposed on 12-17-year-olds, for not less than four months and no more than two years. The first half of the sentence is spent in custody while the second half is spent in the community under the supervision of the YOT. The court can also require the child to be on an Intensive

Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) as a condition of the community period of the sentence. A DTO should only be used as a measure of last resort for offences that are considered so serious as to warrant a custodial sentence or, where a violent or sexual offence has been committed, to protect the public. The sentence must be for the shortest period of time and the time spent on remand must be taken into account.

If a child is convicted of an offence for which an adult could receive at least 14 years in custody, e.g. robbery or rape, they may be sentenced under the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. This sentence can only be given in the Crown Court. If the convic- tion is for homicide, 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 imprisonment. A child who commits murder will receive a mandatory indeterminate sentence of ‘long-term detention’. If a child is 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-quar- ters point. If certain conditions apply, the child may be released on an electronic tag up to 134 days earlier, under the Home Detention Curfew scheme. For children 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 monitored by their supervising officer until the three-quarters point. Of the 110,113 recorded offences committed by children sentenced in 2004-2005, 83.5% were committed by White people, 7% by Black people, 3% by Asian people, 2.8% by those of mixed race, 0.5% by Chinese and other, and 3.1% by those whose ethnicity was unknown. Of the 1,835 15-17-year-olds in penal custody on 30 June 2005, 77% were White, 11% were Black, 6% were of mixed race, 5% Asian, with the remaining 1% made up of Chinese, unknown and ‘others’.76Data just released concerning children sentenced in 2005-2006 confirms that, from a total of 117,707 offences, 83.8% were committed by White people, 6.9% by Black people, 2.9% Asian, 3.5% Mixed, 0.4% Chinese and other, and 2.5% unknown.77 During 2006, the average population of children in penal custody in England and Wales was 2,904. The majority of children in penal custody are routinely held in prison service accom- modation, Young Offender Institutions (YOIs), two of which are privately managed. A

smaller number are held in privately managed Secure Training Centres (STCs) and Local Authority secure children’s homes (LASCHs).

Children in custody

On 20 July 2007 there were 2,942 children in penal custody. This total figure can be broken down as follows:

Secure Training Centres

On 20 July 2007, 9% of children in custody were held in Secure Training Centres (STCs). These are purpose-built centres for children up to the age of 17. They are run by private operators under contracts. The Medway STC was opened in Kent in 1999. There are now three more STCs in operation: Hassockfield (in County Durham); Oakhill (in Milton Keynes); and Rainsbrook (in Rugby). Until 2003 inspections of STCs were carried out by the Department of Health, but they are now the responsibility of the Commission for Social Care Inspections and OFSTED, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.

Courts

Community sentence Prison custody (n = 2,942)

Secure Children’s Home (n = 224) Secure Training Centre (n = 260)

Young Offender Institute (n = 2,458)