Criminal Justice Act 1961

Approved Schools

14 Release and supervision

(1) At any time during the period of a person's detention in an approved school the managers of the school may, and if the Secretary of State so directs shall, release him:

Provided that a person shall not be released within the first six months of the period without the consent of the Secretary of State.

(2) A person who, after the commencement of this section, is released from an approved school (whether under subsection (1) of this section or at the expiration of the period of his detention, and whether he has been released on any previous occasion or not) shall, after his release, be subject to supervision under Part I of the Second Schedule to this Act.

(3) Part II of the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the purpose of enabling the managers of an approved school to exercise certain supervisory powers in relation to a person who has been under their supervision under Part I of that Schedule, if requested by him to do so.

(4) Section seventy-four of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, and paragraph 6 of the Fourth Schedule to that Act, shall cease to have effect.

15 Temporary removal from approved school

(1) If, on information on oath laid by or on behalf of the managers of an approved school, it appears to a justice of the peace on whom jurisdiction is hereinafter conferred that any person not less than fifteen years of age who is detained in the school is so seriously unruly or subversive that it is necessary for maintaining the discipline of the school that he should forthwith be removed therefrom pending inquiry as to the best means of dealing with him, the justice may issue a warrant directing him to be removed by a constable from the school to another approved school or to a remand centre or remand home, and there detained for a period of twenty-eight days unless sooner dealt with according to law.

(2) A justice shall have jurisdiction for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section if he is a justice for the county or borough in which the approved school first mentioned in that subsection is situated, and is not one of the managers of that school.

(3) The institution to which a person is to be removed in pursuance of a warrant under subsection (1) of this section may be specified either in the warrant as issued or by the subsequent endorsement of any justice of the peace, in either case upon intimation that arrangements have been made for the reception of that person therein; and where the institution is to be specified by endorsement, the warrant shall include directions for the removal of the person in respect of whom it is issued to a police station, and for his detention therein for a period not exceeding forty-eight hours pending his further removal pursuant to the endorsement.

(4) Where a person has been removed to any such institution as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section in pursuance of a warrant under that subsection, any justice of the peace may, upon intimation that arrangements have been made for the reception of that person in any other such institution, issue a warrant directing him to be removed by any person named in that behalf in the warrant, or by a constable, to that other institution and there detained for the unexpired portion of the period of twenty-eight days which began with the day on which he was first detained in any such institution under this section.

(5) Where a person is detained in an institution or police station by virtue of a warrant under this section, then, without prejudice to any other power exercisable in relation to that person by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State may direct that, before the expiration of the period for which that person is authorised to be so detained, he shall be returned to the school from which he was removed, or first removed.

(6) If at the expiration of any period for which a person is authorised to be detained in an institution or police station by virtue of a warrant under this section that person has not been otherwise dealt with according to law (whether by virtue of the last foregoing subsection or any other enactment), he shall be returned to the school from which he was removed, or first removed, and the warrant shall include such directions as may be necessary for that purpose.

(7) A person removed under this section to an approved school shall, while liable to be detained therein, be treated as if he were so liable by virtue of an approved school order; and, without prejudice to the foregoing provision, the enactments relating to persons detained in approved schools shall apply in relation to any person removed from an approved school in pursuance of a warrant under subsection (1) of this section as if he were detained in and under the care of the managers of that school.

16 Removal to borstal institution

(1) The managers of an approved school may, with the consent of the Secretary of State, bring before a magistrates' court any person not less than fifteen years of age who is detained in the school as an offender and who, in the opinion of the managers, ought to be removed from the school to a borstal institution under this section.

(2) Where a person detained in an approved school is brought before a court under this section and the court, having regard to his conduct while in that or any other approved school—

(a) is satisfied that his continued detention in an approved school would be ineffective for the purposes of his own reformation or would be detrimental to the training or welfare of other persons therein ; and

(b) is of opinion that it is in his interests that he should receive training in a borstal institution,

the court may order him to be removed to such an institution.

(3) Where an order is made under this section for the removal of any person to a borstal institution, that person shall thereafter be treated for all purposes as if he had been sentenced to borstal training on the date of the order, except that—

(a) where the period for which he would have been liable to be detained in an approved school would have expired within two years from that date, he shall not be liable to be detained in a borstal institution after the expiration of the first-mentioned period ; and

(b) subsection (4) of section forty-five of the Prison Act, 1952, shall apply to him as if for the reference to the period of two years from the date of his sentence there were substituted a reference to the period for which he is liable to be detained under this subsection.

(4) On the making of an order under this section in respect of a person detained in an approved school, the order under which he was so detained shall cease to have effect.

(5) The reference in this section to a person detained in an approved school as an offender is a reference to a person who is for the time being subject to an approved school order under section fifty-seven of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, or an order of the Secretary of State under section fifty-eight of that Act, or an approved school order under any other enactment made by virtue of his being or having been subject to an order under either of those sections, and includes a person who, being subject to any such order as aforesaid, is for the time being detained in an approved school in pursuance of a warrant under section fifteen of this Act.

17 Proceedings for removal under s. 16

(1) Proceedings under section sixteen of this Act for the removal of any person from an approved school may be taken—

(a) in any case, before a magistrates' court having jurisdiction where that school is situate ;

(b) if that person has already been removed from that school to another approved school in pursuance of a warrant under section fifteen of this Act, before a magistrates' court having jurisdiction where that other school is situate;

and where that person is detained in another approved school in pursuance of a warrant under the said section fifteen, such proceedings may be taken either by the managers of the school from which he was removed, or first removed, under the said section fifteen or by the managers of the school in which he is detained.

(2) If the court before which a person is brought under the said section sixteen is not in a position to decide whether to make an order under that section in his case, the court may make such interim order as it thinks fit for his detention or further detention for a period not exceeding twenty-one days in another approved school or in a remand centre or remand home; and subsection (3) of section fifteen of this Act shall apply in relation to any such order as it applies in relation to a warrant under that section.

(3) An interim order under subsection (2) of this section may from time to time be varied or extended by the court which made the order or by a magistrates' court acting for the same petty sessions area; but a person shall not be detained by virtue of an interim order (whether in the same institution or in different institutions) for a period exceeding eight weeks in all.

(4) Where a court having power under subsection (3) of this section to vary or extend an interim order made under subsection (2) of this section in the case of any person is satisfied on any occasion that, by reason of illness or accident, that person is unable to appear personally before the court, the court may exercise the said power on that occasion in his absence.

(5) Subject to the provisions of this section, the provisions of the Magistrates' Courts Act, 1952, and of any other enactment relating to summary proceedings (other than provisions relating to remand) shall apply in relation to proceedings for the removal of any person under the said section sixteen as they apply in relation to proceedings against a person charged with a summary offence.

18 Directions as to management of approved schools

(1) If it appears to the Secretary of State that the provision made in any approved school with regard to any matter relating to—

(a) the premises or equipment of the school,

(b) the number or grades of the staff employed in the school, or

(c) the education, training or welfare of persons under the care of the managers,

is inadequate or unsuitable, he may give to the managers such directions as he thinks necessary for securing that proper provision is made with respect thereto.

(2) Where it appears to the Secretary of State that the managers of an approved school have failed to give effect to any directions under this section, subsection (2) of section seventy-nine of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933 (which empowers the Secretary of State in certain circumstances to withdraw his certificate of approval) shall apply as it applies where he is dissatisfied as mentioned in that section.

19 Constitution of managers

(1) The Secretary of State may by order make provision for regulating the constitution and proceedings of the managers of any approved school other than a school provided by a local authority or by a joint committee representing two or more local authorities ; and any such order shall have effect notwithstanding anything in any trust deed relating to the school.

(2) Before making an order under the foregoing subsection in respect of any school, the Secretary of State shall afford to the managers of the school an opportunity for making representations with respect to the proposed order ; and in making any such order the Secretary of State shall have regard to all the circumstances of the school, and to the manner in which it has been managed theretofore.

(3) If in the case of an approved school, other than a school provided by a local authority or by a joint committee representing two or more local authorities, the Secretary of State is satisfied that by reason of special circumstances it is necessary to do so in the interests of the efficient management of the school, he may appoint one or more persons as additional members of the body constituting the managers of the school; and any person so appointed shall, notwithstanding anything in any trust deed relating to the school or in any order made in respect of the school under subsection (1) of this section, be one of the managers of the school until such time as his appointment is terminated by the Secretary of State or under subsection (4) of this section.

(4) Any order or appointment made under this section in respect of an approved school shall cease to have effect if that school ceases to be an approved school; but nothing in this subsection shall affect the validity of anything done while the order or appointment was in force.

(5) In this section " trust deed ", in relation to any school, includes any instrument (not being an order under this section) regulating the constitution of the school, or its maintenance, management or conduct, or the constitution or proceedings of its managers.