What are the court’s powers when dealing with a referral back to court for early revocation of a Referral Order (RO) where a child is making good progress under the contract?

Things to consider:

This issue was previously covered by s27A of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 and is now also covered by s102 of the Sentencing Act 2000.  Neither of those sections suggests that a minimum period has to be completed before a Referral Order can be revoked early. Further guidance is provided at para 9.23 – 9.25 of the Referral Order Guidance, which suggests that it will be rare, but not impossible, to revoke an order before the midpoint of the compliance period. Example of circumstances where early revocation might be appropriate include, where:

  1. all the elements of the contract have been completed successfully and/ or outstanding progress has been made to completing; and
  2. the child has demonstrated sustained and significant progress towards a positive and productive life and is assessed as correspondingly having a low likelihood of re-offending.

Where, on an application of the type set out in the paragraphs above, the court finds that the revocation is not in the interests of justice, the YOT and panel will be required to continue with the existing order and may not make a further application of this type until three months have passed, except with the consent of the court.

 

Further resources: