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YOUTH COURTS TO BE EMPOWERED TO VARY JUVENILE REHABILITATION CENTRE ORDERS FOR YOUTHS BELOW 16 YEARS

Type: Announcements, Press Releases

Topic(s): Rehabilitation

Published on 30 December 2024

YOUTH COURTS TO BE EMPOWERED TO VARY JUVENILE REHABILITATION CENTRE ORDERS FOR YOUTHS BELOW 16 YEARS  

 

1. In November 2024, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) announced that it planned to operationalise the remaining Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA) amendments on 1 January 2025. 

Power to Vary Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre Orders with effect from 1 January 2025 

2. The amendment to empower the Youth Courts to vary the Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre Orders for youths aged below 16 years will come into force on 1 January 2025. This amendment allows the Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre Orders to be shortened, extended or discharged, and will provide more flexibility to enhance rehabilitation of youth offenders today. 

Further Legislative Amendments Identified to Expand Rehabilitative Support to Older Youth Offenders 

3. To expand rehabilitative support to older youth offenders, the CYPA was amended in 2019 to allow offenders aged 16 to below 18 years to have their cases heard in the Youth Courts, instead of being tried as adults in the State Courts. Nonetheless, to maintain public safety and deterrence against crime, cases involving older youths who are repeat offenders or who commit certain serious crimes (such as serious sexual offences, unlicensed moneylending and drug trafficking), should be transmitted to another Court of appropriate jurisdiction, such as the State Courts or High Court.  

4. While preparing for the implementation of these CYPA amendments, MSF and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assessed that the legislative provisions governing the transfer of cases from the Youth Courts do not fully achieve this intended policy. In particular, the amendments do not give the State and High Courts sufficient flexibility to impose stiffer sentences on older youth offenders where stronger deterrence is needed. 

5. MSF and MHA will make the necessary further legislative amendments in 2025, before operationalising the following provisions: 

a. Raising the age limit of youth offenders from below 16 to below 18 years, and raising the maximum age limit for detention to 21 years of age, as a Juvenile Rehabilitation Order can last up to three years. 

b. Hearing older youth offenders (i.e. aged 16 to below 18 years) in another Court of appropriate jurisdiction instead of a Youth Courts, if the youth is charged with (i) a serious offence specified in the Second Schedule of the CYPA; or (ii) a similar offence to what he/she was previously found guilty with.
 
c. Sending unruly youth offenders for Reformative Training at the outset, even if he or she has not been granted a Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre Order before.

The Government Remains Committed to Supporting the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Youth Offenders 

6. MSF remains committed to ensuring age-appropriate rehabilitation for youth offenders. Despite the change in date for the expansion of rehabilitative support for older youth offenders, older youth offenders will still receive the appropriate support (including rehabilitation-focused support such as Probation Orders) under the State Courts and High Court. 


ISSUED BY MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT