Ms Marisa Gomez:

When it comes to suspended sentences, which as the committee knows are regularly applied when it comes to adults, the Department engages in consultations with relevant stakeholders, including the Law Reform Commission. The consensus is that suspended sentences are not appropriate. They do not work with children because it does not give them the opportunity to deal with the consequences of their offence in the same way as an adult. The consensus or the understanding is they will take it as if they are getting out of jail, basically, or out of the sanction with a free ticket. The consensus among the stakeholders and the Department is that suspended sentences are not appropriate for children. That is why we are proposing introducing a new order called the first sentence supervision order. This will provide that when a judge decides detention is an appropriate penalty for a child offender, the sentencing will be deferred for up to a year and during that time the child will be under the supervision of the probation officer. There will be requirements and conditions that will need to be complied with by the child. If the child complies with those requirements, when the time comes for the sentencing the court may decide to discharge or replace the order of detention with a different order and if the child does not comply with the requirements of the order that is when detention can kick in, or if the child has turned 18 they can go into prison and an imprisonment order can be issued.