Youth court orders
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If a young person pleads guilty or is found guilty of an offence, the court may ask for a restorative justice conference to take place prior to sentencing.
Purpose
The purpose of a presentence restorative justice conference is to:
- address the young person’s offending behaviour
- provide consequences for the offence
- allow victims to take part in the justice process for the crimes committed against them
- help the court decide on a sentence considering the young person’s participation in the conference and their actions taken to complete the restorative justice agreement.
If a conference is held and an agreement is made, the court will be notified of all relevant conference details to assist in sentencing. The court will also be notified if the young person does not attend the conference or complete the agreement.
Unlike other restorative justice referrals, presentence restorative justice conferences must be completed by way of a restorative justice conference.
Voluntary
If the victim does not want to be involved in the restorative justice conference, the restorative justice convenor must ask a representative from an organisation that works with victims of crime to attend the conference instead.
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If a young person pleads guilty or is found guilty of an offence, they may be sentenced to a restorative justice order. Restorative justice orders must be completed within 12 months.
As part of the order, the young person must attend a restorative justice conference.
Purpose
The purpose of a restorative justice order is to:
- address the young person’s offending behaviour
- provide consequences for the offence
- allow victims to take part in the justice process for the crimes committed against them
- allow the court to make another supervised order if the young person does not comply with the restorative justice order.
Rules
There are other requirements of a restorative justice order. The young person must:
- report in person to a youth justice officer within 1 business day after the order is made
- not break the law
- follow every reasonable direction of youth justice officers
- report and receive visits as directed by a youth justice officer
- notify a youth justice officer within 2 business days of a change to their address, employment or school
- not leave Queensland while the order is in force, unless approved by a youth justice officer.
Requirements
The young person will have completed their restorative justice order if they:
- attend pre-conference meetings
- attend the conference
- complete a restorative justice agreement, and
- comply with all other requirements of the order.
If the young person does not meet the requirements of the order, a contravention process will commence that includes a formal warning and, if required, an application to the court to find that the young person has breached the order.
Unlike some other restorative justice referrals, restorative justice orders must be completed by way of a restorative justice conference.
If a victim does not want to be involved in the restorative justice conference, the referral is returned back to the court to determine the outcome. Alternatively, a representative of an organisation that advocates on behalf of victims can attend the restorative justice conference in the victim’s place.
Voluntary
If the victim does not want to be involved in the restorative justice conference, the restorative justice convenor must ask a representative from an organisation that works with victims of crime to attend the conference instead.
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If a young person pleads guilty to or is found guilty of an offence, a court can order that they do unpaid work in the community for a certain number of hours.
The Queensland Government organises the work and arranges for the young person to be supervised while they’re doing it. A young person will also be allocated a Youth Justice officer.
For the court to make this type of order, the young person has to:
- be 13 or older
- agree to do community service.
The court can only make this order if a young person is found guilty of an offence that an adult could go to jail for.
Purpose
Community service orders provide a real consequence for young offenders. They help young people do something good for the community while making amends for their crime.
Completing these orders can help a young person become part of the community again. They:
- show that they have accepted the consequences of their actions
- gain skills and knowledge through work
- become more mature as they organise their life and responsibilities
- can feel good about doing something worthwhile.
Hours
The court decides how much work a young person must do—generally at least 20 hours. If the young person is under 15, the most they can do is 100 hours, with no more than 4 hours a day. If the young person is 15 years or over, they might have to do up to 200 hours, with no more than 8 hours a day.
The court will also set a time frame for a young person to complete the work. This can be 12 months or less.
Type of work
A young person may do their community service with a Youth Justice youth worker or be matched with an agency that arranges the work, depending on:
- the nature and seriousness of the offence
- the young person’s skills and ability
- the young person’s age and cultural background.
Rules
A young person must:
- report to a Youth Justice officer within 1 business day of the order being made
- not break the law
- do the work in a satisfactory way
- follow all reasonable directions of their Youth Justice officer or youth worker
- tell their Youth Justice officer within 2 days if they change address, school or job
- not leave Queensland without permission from a Youth Justice officer.
What a young person should bring
If a young person is working outside, they need to bring a hat and sunscreen. They should also bring enough food and water to last the whole workday.
The Youth Justice officer or supervisor at the job tells the young person if they need any protective clothing or equipment. Either the Queensland Government or the agency in charge of the job will supply protective clothing or equipment if it is required.
What a young person should not bring
A young person should not bring:
- alcohol
- drugs
- weapons
- their friends.
Moving house
If you move house, you or the young person must tell their Youth Justice officer your new address within 2 days of moving. The young person must get permission from their Youth Justice officer to leave Queensland.
Problems
If the young person is sick and can’t attend work, they must provide a medical certificate. They must also tell their Youth Justice officer and supervisor.
If the young person is having problems with the community service work, they must tell their Youth Justice officer and supervisor as soon as possible.
A young person must attend work when they’re supposed to. They need a very good reason for not going.
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When a young person has been ordered to spend time in a detention centre, they’ll spend the last part of their sentence outside the centre in the community.
Generally, young people will spend about 70% of their sentence in detention before being let out on a supervised release order.
Purpose
Supervised release orders ensure a young person is supervised by authorities for a period after they’re released. This type of order helps a young person re-integrate with their community and family.
Before release
Before a young person is released from detention, you will be asked to attend a meeting with:
- the young person
- a detention centre officer
- a Youth Justice service centre officer
- a transition officer.
The meeting will talk about:
- the conditions and activities for the order
- when the young person must report to authorities
- a plan for the young person’s release.
The young person’s release
When a young person first leaves detention, they must meet with a Youth Justice officer. You should go to this meeting too.
The Youth Justice officer and a team leader will discuss the order conditions and ensure a young person understands what they have to do. They also discuss what help a young person might need in following the order.
The young person must talk to their Youth Justice officer if they have any problems with their order.
Rules
Under a supervised release order, a young person must:
- not break the law
- report to a Youth Justice officer
- satisfactorily attend all programs as directed by their Youth Justice officer
- comply with all reasonable directions from their Youth Justice officer
- notify the Youth Justice officer within 2 days if the young person changes address, school or job
- not leave Queensland without permission from a Youth Justice officer.
Breaching the order
It is a very serious matter if a young person breaks the law again while on a supervised release order. They may have to go back to court and detention.
If a young person does not follow the order conditions, they may have to go back to court and could be sent back to detention.
You must talk to the young person's Youth Justice officer if you or the young person are having any problems with the conditions of the order.
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If a young person pleads guilty or is found guilty of an offence, they may get a probation order.
A probation order will help a young person find ways to stop offending while they continue to live in the community.
The purpose of a probation order is to:
- address a young person’s offending behaviour through counselling and programs
- provide consequences for a young person’s offending behaviour
- let a young person take part in community and family life in a supervised and supported way
- help a young person continue with study and work.
A youth justice officer will supervise a young person for the period of the order. The young person must follow rules, take part in activities, and frequently go and see their youth justice officer. They may also receive home visits.
How long it lasts
Generally, a young person can be sentenced to a probation order for up to 2 years. In serious cases, this can be extended up to 3 years.
What it involves
A young person will complete activities and programs to help them not offend.
A young person’s youth justice officer will give them help and advice about the support they need to do things like get back into education and find a job.
Rules
There are rules a young person must follow when they are on a probation order.
A young person must:
- not break the law
- go to the programs that their youth justice officers tell them to
- follow every reasonable direction given by their youth justice officer
- get permission from their youth justice officer if they wish to leave Queensland.
You or a young person must also tell us if a young person’s details—address, school, or work—change (this must happen within 2 business days of the change).
Sometimes the court will add other conditions to a young person's probation order. Extra conditions are added when the court thinks that a young person needs extra supervision, counselling or help in the community. These conditions are just as important, and a young person must follow them.
Breaking the rules
If a young person does not follow the rules of their order, a young person’s youth justice officer will talk to a young person about this. The young person may also be given a written warning.
If a young person does not get back on track after their warning, they may have to go back to court. The court will then decide whether they can continue on the probation order. The court can decide to give them a different order.
It is a very serious matter if a young person breaks the law while they are on probation. The court can hold them in breach of their probation order and give them more penalties.
If you or a young person think they are having problems following the rules of their order you should talk to the young person's youth justice officer.
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If a young person is over the age of 12 and pleads guilty or is found guilty by a court of intentionally damaging property with graffiti, they will be ordered to attend a graffiti removal program, doing unpaid work removing graffiti in the community. This is a mandatory sentence called a graffiti removal order.
What is a graffiti removal program?
A graffiti removal program is organised by us. On the program a young person will normally have to remove their own graffiti; however, if this is not possible, they may have to do other work, removing graffiti or cleaning up the neighbourhood.
We will:
- organise the graffiti removal work
- arrange for a young person to be supervised
- allocate a young person a youth justice officer.
Find out more about graffiti removal programs.
What does a graffiti removal order achieve?
Graffiti removal orders provide real consequences for young offenders and deter them from committing more graffiti vandalism in the future. Through a graffiti removal order a young person will:
- experiences a direct and relevant consequence for their behaviour
- makes amends to the community for their crime
- understands the negative impact of graffiti on the community.
How long does a graffiti removal order last?
The court will decide how much graffiti removal work a young person must do depending on their age.
They must be 12 or older to be sentenced to a graffiti removal order; if they are aged 11 or younger, they will be dealt with differently by the court.
If they are aged:
- 12 they can be sentenced to up to 5 hours graffiti removal work
- 13 or 14 they can be sentenced to up to 10 hours graffiti removal work
- 15 years and older they can be sentenced to up to 20 hours graffiti removal work.
The court will also set a time frame for a young person to complete the required number of work hours. This can be up to 12 months.
Rules
When under a graffiti removal order a young person must:
- report to a youth justice officer within one business day of the order being made or any longer period as specified in the order
- not break the law
- do the work allocated to them in a satisfactory way
- follow all reasonable directions of their youth justice officer or youth worker
- tell their youth justice officer within 2 days if they change address, school or job
- not leave Queensland without permission from a youth justice officer.
If you move house
If you move house, you or the young person must tell their youth justice officer your new address within 2 days of moving. A young person must get permission from their youth justice officer to leave Queensland.
If a young person is sick or is having other problems
If a young person is sick and cannot go to work, they must:
- tell their youth justice officer
- tell their supervisor
- provide a medical certificate proving they were sick and unable to work.
If a young person is having other problems with the graffiti removal work, they must tell their youth justice officer and supervisor as soon as possible.
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If a young person pleads guilty to—or is found guilty of—offences when they go to court, a young person can be sentenced to detention. The court may decide not to send a young person immediately to detention and instead make a conditional release order. This means a young person will be released into the community straight away, to take part in a structured program with strict conditions. Usually, the court will only make this order if a young person has already been on other orders.
A conditional release order will help deal with a young person’s offending while they continue to live in the community.
The purpose of a conditional release order is to:
- address a young person’s offending behaviour through counselling and programs
- provide consequences for a young person’s offending behaviour
- let a young person take part in community and family life in a supervised and supported way
- help a young person continue with their study and work commitments.
A youth justice officer will supervise a young person for the period of the order. A young person must follow rules, take part in activities, and frequently go to see their youth justice officer. They may also receive home visits.
What it involves
A conditional release order means that a young person must take part in a specially designed program that the court has agreed to. This program may take up to 3 months.
A young person will meet with a youth justice officer before they are sentenced. The young person and the youth justice officer will put together a structured conditional release order program. This program has 3 parts:
- activities to stop them from offending
- work, school or training activities
- activities to help them be involved in your family and their community in a positive way.
There are rules a young person must follow when they are on a conditional release order.
A young person must:
- not break the law
- take part in all of the activities they agreed to in their program
- go to the programs that their youth justice officer tells them to
- follow every reasonable direction given by their youth justice officer
- get permission from their youth justice officer if they wish to leave Queensland.
You or the young person must also tell us if their details—address, school, or work—change (this must happen within 2 business days of the change).
Sometimes the court will add other conditions to a young person’s conditional release order. Extra conditions are added when the court thinks that a young person needs extra supervision, counselling or help in the community. These conditions are just as important, and a young person must follow them.
Breaking the rules
If a young person does not follow the rules of their order, a young person’s youth justice officer will talk to them about this. A young person may also be given a written warning.
If a young person does not get back on track after their warning, they may have to go back to court. The court can decide to give them a different order, including sending them to a youth detention centre.
It is a very serious matter if a young person breaks the law while they are on a conditional release order. The court may hold them in breach of their order and place a young person in a youth detention centre.
If you or a young person think they are having problems following the rules of their order you should talk to a young person’s youth justice officer.
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If a court finds a young person—under the age of 13 years—guilty of an offence, it may make an intensive supervision order. Usually, this order is only made if a young person has already been on other orders, and they are now at risk of going to detention.
The purpose of an intensive supervision order is to:
- address a young person’s offending behaviour through participation in counselling and other programs
- establish support systems to help a young person in the long-term
- provide consequences for a young person’s offending behaviour
- let a young person take part in community and family life in a supervised and supported way
- help a young person to continue with their study and work commitments.
A youth justice officer will supervise a young person for the period of the intensive supervision order. A young person must follow certain rules, participate in certain activities, and must frequently go and to see their youth justice officer. They may also receive home visits
How long it lasts
A court may sentence a young person to an intensive supervision order for up to 6 months.
What it involves
Before sentencing, a young person will meet with a youth justice officer. A young person and the youth justice officer will put together an intensive supervision order program.
This program will include:
- activities to stop them from offending
- school or an alternative education program
- activities to help them be involved in your family and their community in a positive way.
Rules
There are rules a young person must follow when they are on an intensive supervision order.
A young person must:
- take part in all of the activities they agree to in their program
- not break the law
- follow every reasonable direction given by their youth justice officer
- get permission from their youth justice officer if they wish to leave Queensland.
You or the young person must also tell us if their details—address, school, or work—change (this must happen within 2 business days of the change).
Sometimes the court will add other conditions to a young person’s intensive supervision order. Extra conditions are added when the court thinks that a young person needs extra supervision, counselling or help in the community. These conditions are just as important as the main rules and a young person must follow them.
Breaking the rules
If a young person does not follow the rules of their order, a young person’s youth justice officer will talk to them about this. A young person may be given a written warning.
If a young person does not get back on track after their warning, they may have to go back to court. The court will then decide whether they can continue on the intensive supervision order. The court may decide to give them a different order.
It is a very serious matter if a young person breaks the law while they are on an intensive supervision order. The court may hold them in breach of their intensive supervision order and give them another punishment.
If you or the young person thinks they are having problems following the rules of their order you should talk to the young person’s youth justice officer.
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Find out what it means when a young person is given a detention order.
If a young person pleads guilty to—or is found guilty of—offences when they go to court, they can be sentenced to a detention order. This means that a young person must spend a set amount of time in a youth detention centre ..
A detention order starts on the day a young person is sentenced. A young person may have spent time in a youth detention centre before they received their detention order. This usually counts as part of a young person's detention order.
There are 2 parts of a detention order:
- time in a youth detention centre
- time in the community on a supervised release order.
The court will decide how long each of these parts goes for. The court can order a young person to spend 50 to 70% of their order in detention and the rest of their time on a supervised release order.
What it involves
A young person will be transported to a youth detention centre. Queensland has 3 youth detention centres—2 in Brisbane and 1 in Townsville. When a young person arrives at the detention centre, a nurse will check that they are well.
A young person will meet youth detention staff who will:
- check that they understand what is happening
- explain how the detention centre works
- give a young person a booklet that tells them about the detention centre.
A young person will work with youth justice officers to:
- understand why they broke the law
- learn how to change their behaviour and stop offending.
A young person will follow a set routine. They will:
- go to school in the centre
- do sports activities
- do other programs
- do chores in their unit
- have a set bedtime.
Rules
There are rules a young person must follow when they are in detention.
There are also rules that you must follow when you visit your child at the detention centre. You must not bring prohibited items, like drugs and cigarettes, into the centre. If you try to do this, you may not be able to visit your child again.
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Other orders that the court may sentence a young person to.
If a young person pleads guilty to—or is found guilty of—offences when they go to court, a young person will be sentenced.
The court can sentence a young person to orders where our youth justice officers will work closely with them, or orders with little or no supervision.
Types of orders and sentences
Reprimand
A court may decide to give a formal warning to a young person.
Good behaviour order
A court can order that a young person must be on good behaviour for up to 1 year. This means that the court expects a young person to obey the law for the time they are on the order.
If the young person breaks the law again while on a good behaviour order, the court can consider this and give them a more serious punishment.
Fine
A court may order that a young person has to pay money to the court registry. The court will consider if the young person is able to pay within a certain amount of time.
Drug assessment and education
If the court finds a young person guilty of an eligible drug offence, such as possession of a dangerous drug (personal use quantities), they may refer a young person to a drug assessment and education session. This means that a young person must go to a meeting to discuss their drug use.
If a young person does not go, the matter may be returned to court for them to be sentenced again.
Restitution and compensation
A court may order that the young person must pay money to make up for property loss or for an injury suffered by a victim of their offence. The court will consider if the young person is able to pay within a certain amount of time.
License disqualification
A court can stop a young person from having or getting their driver license for a certain amount of time.
More information:
- Learn more about young people and the justice system
- Locate your closest youth justice service centre
- Read about how you can help and support a young person
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence