(1)No person shall suffer death for murder and a person convicted of murder shall, subject to section 73(1) of the M1Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (detention of young persons during pleasure), be sentenced to imprisonment for life.
(2)On sentencing any person convicted of murder to imprisonment for life the court may at the same time declare the period which they recommend to the [F1Secretary of State] as the minimum period which in their view should elapse before the [F1Secretary of State] orders the release of that person on licence under section 23 of the M2Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953.
(3)[F1The Secretary of State] shall not release or discharge on licence a person convicted of murder and serving a sentence of imprisonment for life or detained under the said section 73(1), except after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland together with the trial judge, if available.
(4)For the purpose of any proceedings on or subsequent to a person’s trial on a charge of capital murder, that charge and any plea or finding of guilty of capital murder shall be treated as being or having been a charge, or a plea or finding of guilty, of murder only; and if at the commencement of this Act a person is under a sentence of death for capital murder, the sentence shall have effect as a sentence of imprisonment for life.
(5)In this section “capital murder” means a murder which immediately before the commencement of this Act is a capital murder within the meaning of section 10 of the M3Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966.
Textual Amendments
F1Words substituted by virtue of S.I. 1973/2163, art. 11(5)
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C1S. 1(3) modified (1.10.1997) by 1984 c. 47, Sch. para. 3 (as substituted (1.10.1997) by 1997 c. 43, s. 42, Sch. 2 para. 10(1)(2)); S.I. 1997/2200, art. 2(h)
Marginal Citations
Textual Amendments
Textual Amendments
Textual Amendments
(1)Neither an order under section 51(1)(a) of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (order for committal of a child or young person to a remand home) nor a training school order within the meaning of that Act shall specify the remand home or training school to which the person to whom it relates is to be sent.
(2)After the said section 51(1)(a) there shall be inserted the following subsection— “ (1A) An order for committal under subsection (1)(a) shall be authorityfor the detention of the person to whom it relates in any remand homeand the remand home in which he is to be detained at any time shall bedetermined by the Ministry ”.
(3)In section 53(2) of the said Act of 1968 (report as to circumstancesof child or young person and as to available training schools) for theword “available”, in the second place where it occurs, there shall besubstituted the words “the availability of accommodation at”.
(4)After section 85(1) of that Act (training school orders) there shallbe inserted the following subsections— “(1A) A training school order shall be authority for the detention ofthe person to whom it relates in any training school and the school inwhich he is to be detained at any time shall be determined by theMinistry.(1B) In the selection of a training school to which a child or youngperson is to be sent, the Ministry shall have regard to his religiouspersuasion.(1C)If the parent, guardian or nearest adult relative of a person inrespect of whom a training school order has been made applies to thecourt for an order under this subsection and proves to the court thatthe religious persuasion of that person is not as declared undersubsection (1)(b) by the training school order, the court shall byorder declare the religious persuasion of that person to be that soproved and send a copy of its order to the Ministry ; but no suchapplication shall be made with respect to any person later than thirtydays after the training school order relating to him was made.(1D) The court to which an application under subsection (1C) is to bemade is—
(a)if the training school order was made by a juvenile court or othercourt of summary jurisdiction, a juvenile court acting for the samepetty sessions district as that court;
(b)in any other case, a juvenile court acting for the petty sessionsdistrict in which the applicant resides.”
(5)After setion 132(4) of the said Act of 1968 (power to make rules aboutremand homes) there shall be inserted the following subsections— “ (4A) Rules under subsection (4) may also make provision whereby aperson in custody in a remand home may be temporarily released or mayon the ground of his industry and good conduct be granted suchremission as may be prescribed by the rules.(4B) On the deischarge of a person from a remand home in pursuance ofremission granted under any such rules, the order for his committal tothe remand home shall cease to have effect. ”
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C2The text of s. 9(2)–(5) is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.