Schedule 30: Disqualification from working with children
865.Part 2 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 already requires the court to make an order disqualifying the offender from working with children on conviction for an “offence against a child”, as defined in section 26 by reference to the list in Schedule 4 of the Act, where a sentence of imprisonment or detention for 12 months or more is imposed. In relation to adult offenders, a disqualification order must be made unless the court is satisfied that it is unlikely the individual will commit any further offence. In the case of offenders aged under 18, the court must make the order if it is satisfied that it is likely a further offence against a child will be committed.
866.Paragraph 2 of this Schedule inserts new sections 29A and 29B into the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000.
867.New section 29A extends the court’s powers by adding a discretion to make an order if it is satisfied that it is likely a further offence against a child will be committed, even though the sentence threshold specified in the Act is not met. The test of whether the order should be made is whether the court is satisfied, having regard to all the circumstances, that it is likely that the individual will commit a further offence against a child. If the court makes a disqualification order, it must both state and record its reasons for doing so. These provisions add to but do not otherwise change the existing provisions in the Act relating to cases in which the sentencing threshold is met.
868.New section 29B has the effect that where a court was under a duty to consider the issue of a disqualification order, by virtue of convicting the offender of a relevant offence and passing a sentence which met the threshold specified, but appeared not to have done so nor to have recorded its reasons for this, the prosecution has discretion at any time in the future to apply to a senior court for a disqualification order to be made. The court will then have to consider, on the basis of further evidence and argument if necessary, whether the test that the offender is likely to commit an offence is met and whether an order should be made. Where it considers the test is met in respect of an adult, it must make an order or, if it does not do so, must record the reasons for this decision. Where the offender is aged under 18 years, the court must make an order if it is satisfied that the offender is likely to commit a further offence against a child and must record its reasons for this decision. New section 29B applies to cases in which a court was under a duty to consider a disqualification order, i.e. to senior courts passing qualifying sentences on offenders convicted of an offence under Schedule 4 of in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, after the implementation on January 11th 2001 of the relevant provisions in that Act.
