Section 55 - Application to young offenders and children
120.This section deals with the application of the provisions of Part 2 to young offenders and children. A young offender is a person who is under 21 years old at the point of sentence (and who is not a child). A child a person who is under 16 years old or who is under 18 years old and in respect of whom a supervision requirement is in force.
121.Where the sentence on a young person or child is of less than 15 days, Part 2 applies to them as if they were a custody-only prisoner. Where the sentence is of 15 days or more, it applies as if they were a custody and community prisoner. And where the sentence is indeterminate, it applies as if they were a life prisoner.
122.Subsection (7) provides that references to “imprisonment” in Part 2 are to be read as references to detention and cognate expressions are to be construed accordingly. This is because young offenders and children are sentenced to detention and not to imprisonment.
