NCJ Number
148743
Date Published
1993
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study examines the practice of juvenile detention in Great Britain under the Magistrates' Courts Act of 1980 and reforms achieved since the Criminal Justice Act of 1991.
Abstract
Under the Magistrates' Courts Act of 1980, defendants aged 17 who are refused bail are remanded in custody and held in a remand center or a prison. Defendants under age 17 who are refused bail are remanded to local authority accommodation unless the case falls within an exceptional category identified by section 23 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969. The practice of holding juveniles in prisons and remand centers has caused continuing concern, particularly following the suicide in July 1990 of a 15- year-old boy, who hanged himself while on remand in Swansea prison. The conditions in which these juveniles are held are normally worse than those for sentenced juveniles in juvenile institutions. In February 1991 the Home Office issued a consultation paper that contained proposals to prohibit custodial remands of juveniles except where there is "a need to protect the public from the risk of serious harm," and to make provision in the longer term to terminate the remanding of juveniles to prison service custody. These provisions were subsequently included in the Criminal Justice Act of 1991. In June 1993 the Association of Chief Officers of Probation and the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders published a report that contained the findings of a survey of juveniles remanded to prison service custody in England and Wales between April 1992 and March 1993. The report showed that the daily number of juveniles held on remand in custody had nearly doubled from 47 in April 1992 to 95 in March 1993. The report recommends that remands in custody of juveniles aged 15 and 16 should be eliminated as soon as possible.