In those cases where prosecution and conviction become unavoidable, in keeping with best international practice, the guiding principle is that detention should be an option of last resort. To effect this, provision is made for a number of forms of community sanction, many of which are entirely new within Irish law. Although imprisonment will not be an option for persons under the age of 18 years, it is recognised, nevertheless, that detention will always be required for a small number of young offenders for whom nothing else will work. Children of 12 years of age up to 16 years of age will be detained in child detention schools, which will have an educational rather than punitive ethos. Children of 16 and 17 years of age will be detained in dedicated, sex-segregated secure detention centres provided within our justice system.