Criminal Justice Act 1982

22 Charge and control of offenders

The following section shall be inserted after section 20 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969—

“20A Power of court to add condition as to charge and control of offender in care.

(1) Where a person to whom a care order relates which was made—

(a) by virtue of subsection (3) of section 1 of this Act in a case where the court which made the order was of the opinion that the condition mentioned in subsection (2)(f) of that section was satisfied ; or

(b) by virtue of section 7(7) of this Act,

is convicted or found guilty of an offence punishable with imprisonment in the case of a person over 21, the court which convicts or finds him guilty of that offence may add to the care order a condition under this section that the power conferred by section 21(2) of the [1980 c. 5.] Child Care Act 1980 (power of local authority to allow a parent, guardian, relative or friend charge and control) shall for such period not exceeding 6 months as the court may specify in the condition—

(a) not be exercisable ; or

(b) not be exercisable except to allow the person to whom the order relates to be under the charge and control of a specified parent, guardian, relative or friend.

(2) Where—

(a) the power conferred by subsection (1) above has been exercised ; and

(b) before the period specified in the condition has expired the person to whom the care order relates is convicted or found guilty of another offence punishable with imprisonment in the case of a person over 21,

the court may replace the condition with another condition under this section.

(3) A court shall not exercise the powers conferred by this section unless the court is of opinion that it is appropriate to exercise those powers because of the seriousness of the offence and that no other method of dealing with the person to whom the care order relates is appropriate; and for the purpose of determining whether any other method of dealing with him is appropriate the court shall obtain and consider information about the circumstances.

(4) A court shall not exercise the said powers in respect of a person who is not legally represented in that court unless either—

(a) he applied for legal aid and the application was refused on the ground that it did not appear his means were such that he required assistance; or

(b) having been informed of his right to apply for legal aid and had the opportunity to do so, he refused or failed to apply.

(5) Before adding a condition under this section to a care order a court shall explain to the person to whom the care order relates the purpose and effect of the condition.

(6) At any time when a care order includes a condition under this section—

(a) the person to whom the order relates ;

(b) his parent or guardian, acting on his behalf; or

(c) the local authority in whose care he is,

may apply to a juvenile court for the revocation or variation of the condition.

(7) The local authority may appeal to the Crown Court against the imposition of a condition under this section by a magistrates' court or against the terms of such a condition.

(8) For the purposes of this section a person is to be treated as legally represented in a court if, but only if, he has the assistance of counsel or a solicitor to represent him in the proceedings in that court at some time after he is convicted or found guilty and before any power conferred by this section is exercised, and in this section " legal aid " means legal aid for the purposes of proceedings in that court, whether the whole proceedings or the proceedings on or in relation to the exercise of the power ; but in the case of a person committed to the Crown Court for sentence or trial, it is immaterial whether he applied for legal aid in the Crown Court to, or was informed of his right to apply by, that court or the court which committed him.”.