If you are under 18 and have to go to court, and you agree you did what the police say you did (plead guilty), or the court decides that you did it (finds you guilty), the court can carry out a number of Orders.

You must agree, before the court can order you to do any of the orders below, except for detention. If you do not agree, the court will give you another order which might include detention.

Unsupervised Orders

Drug Assessment and Education Session

If you’ve been charged for:

• you have been charged with possession of marijuana and the amount is less than 50g; OR
• you have been charged with possession of a small amount of some other drugs; OR
• you have been charged with possession of a thing that is to be or was used in connection with the smoking of marijuana; AND

You may be eligible to attend a Drug Assessment and Education Session. You must agree to do this session before the court can order you to go to the session. The session with a drug counsellor for about 2 hours. You will be told at court the date and the place where you need to go to see the drug counsellor.

If you go to the session, then when the matter goes back to court the court will bring the preceding for the offence to an end and no further action will be taken and a conviction will not be recorded (see the ‘What if I am convicted?’ below). If you do not go to the session, then you must go back to court and another order can be made.

Restorative Justice Process

Instead of sentencing you, the court can order that you take part in a restorative justice conference or attend an alternative diversion program. At a restorative justice conference, you will have the opportunity to discuss the consequences of committing the offence with the people who were affected by it, such as the victim.

You have the right to have a lawyer, an adult member of your family or another adult of your choice with you (for example, a youth worker).  Your parent can attend. The victim or their lawyer and a member of their family may also attend, but the victim does not have to attend.  A convenor, who runs the conference, will also be present.

At the conference you will be asked to reach an agreement fix the impact of what you did.

For example:

• agree to pay the victim some money
• apologise
• do some voluntary work
• get some counselling

In some circumstances an alternative diversion program (ADP) may be available. An ADP is to help you understand the harm caused by your behaviour and give you the opportunity to take responsibility for the offence you committed. You must agree to do and complete the ADP.

You can be taken back to court to be resentenced if you do not complete the ADP, or if you fail to turn up at a conference, or an agreement cannot be worked out, or you do not do what you agreed. You should get legal advice about what a conference or ADP will mean for you.

Reprimand

This means a court gives you a warning about your behaviour. The court will usually only do this if it is your first time at court or the offence you committed was not very serious. No conviction will be recorded.

Good Behaviour Order

This requires that you to not break the law for a period of time up to one year. No conviction will be recorded. If you commit an offence while on a Good Behaviour Order, the court will consider that you did not stay out of trouble as you agreed when sentencing you for the new offence/s.

Fine.

If a court believes you have your own money (for example, because you have a job) then the court may order you to pay a sum of money as a punishment. A conviction can be recorded against you. If you do not pay the money in the time given, the court may be able to order you to do some community service.

Supervised Orders

Graffiti Removal Order

If you are at least 12 years old and found guilty of Wilful Damage by Graffiti the court MUST order you to do unpaid work to remove graffiti unless the court believes that, because of your physical or mental capacity, you are not capable of complying with the order. The court may take into account your age, maturity and abilities when determining the length of your order.

If the court orders that you be held in detention for a graffiti offence, then you have to do the graffiti removal work when you are released from detention.

Probation Order

The court can order extra conditions to help stop you offending but only if you agree to do the things the court orders. If you do not do what the court has ordered, what your caseworker tells you or you do not comply with the conditions you can be taken back to court (breached) and another order can be made. A conviction can be recorded against you. You will be supervised by a Youth Justice caseworker while you are on the order.

Community Service Order

A court can only give you a Community Service Order if you agree. If you do not finish the work or do not do it properly or do not comply with any of the other conditions in the order then you may be taken back to court (breached) and another order can be made. The court will only make this order if the court believes that you are suitable to do community service work and there is suitable work available for you to do. If you have got hassles about your community service and want extra help from your caseworker then it is up to you to ask for help. Also, if you have an interest in doing a particular kind of work, then you should talk to your caseworker to see if it is possible to do community work in this area.

Intensive Supervision Order

If you are under 13, the court may make an Intensive Supervision Order. The court must first get a report about you from a Youth Justice caseworker. This is called a pre-sentence report. The report will outline what you will be required to do under the order. This is called the ‘program’. You need to understand what you will have to do under the program and you should ask a lawyer to explain the program to you. Before the court can make the order, the court must know that you agree to do the program.

If you do not comply with the conditions of the order including doing everything you are told to do by your caseworker and under the program then you can be brought back to court and another order can be made.

Restorative Justice Order

A court can also order that you take part in a restorative justice conference as part of a restorative justice order (see above Restorative Justice Process). This order will also require you to keep to the same conditions as a Probation Order, until you have done what you agreed to do at the conference.

The court cannot sentence you to a restorative justice order as a penalty for a Significant Offence (see ‘Adult crime, adult time’ information sheet Adult Crime, Adult Time Laws - Youth Advocacy Centre).

If you fail to turn up at a conference, or an agreement cannot be worked out, or you do not do what you agreed, you can be taken back to court and given another order (including detention).

Detention Orders

Conditional Release Order

If a court thinks that you should be sentenced to detention but is prepared to ‘give you a last chance to stay in the community’ it may make a Conditional Release Order. This is a type of detention order that you do in the community rather than in the detention centre.  Before giving you this order, the court must get a report about you from Youth Justice (this is called a Pre-sentence Report). You must agree to the Order. A conviction can be recorded against you. This Order will mean that you will have to take part in an intensive, strictly supervised community program.

If you do not do everything you are told to do by your caseworker or comply with the conditions of the Conditional Release Order then the court can order you to spend some time in a youth detention centre.

Detention Order

A court can order you to spend time in a youth detention centre, which is a jail for people under 18. The court must first get a report about you from a Youth Justice caseworker. This is called a pre-sentence report. If you are found guilty of an offence by a Magistrate then you can be sentenced to detention for up to 12 months unless you have been charged with a Significant Offence and you could be sentenced to up to 3 years (see ‘Adult crime, adult time’ information sheet Adult Crime, Adult Time Laws - Youth Advocacy Centre).

If you are found guilty of an offence before a Judge, depending on how serious the charge is, the Judge can sentence you to a number of years in detention. The time period varies but for many Significant Offences you can be sentenced to life in detention. Detention for life is mandatory (must be imposed) for murder.

If you are on a Detention Order less than life, you must be released from detention after being there for 70% of your sentence (for example, if sentenced to 12 months, you would spend 8.5 months in custody). A court can also order an earlier release date (up to 50% of your sentence) unless you are sentenced for a Significant Offence then the court can order your release at any time, this could require you to do the whole sentence in detention.

When you are released before your full sentence has been completed, you will be put on a Supervised Release Order. You must also comply with the other conditions of the order. For example you must:

• not leave the State of Queensland without approval of your Youth Justice caseworker
• not break the law
• do as your caseworker tells you
• tell your caseworker if you change address, your school or job.

If the caseworker believes you have not done what you were required to do under the Supervised Release Order or you do not comply with the conditions you may be required to go back to court. The caseworker must warn you before taking you back to court. The court may order you to spend the rest of your sentence in detention.

I am in a youth detention centre and will turn 18 before I am released. Will I be moved to an adult prison?

If you are in detention and you turn 18 you will usually be transferred to an adult prison. This will occur within 30 days of your 18^th birthday. In limited circumstances, Youth Justice may allow you to stay in the detention centre if they think you are not a threat to the centre or people in it.

If you are transferred to an adult prison and you are on a sentence, you will be released on parole on the day you would have been released from detention. If you are on remand in an adult prison and you are sentenced to a period of detention you will serve this in an adult prison.

If you are sentenced to life imprisonment, the rules for adult parole apply.

If you believe you will turn 18 while in detention you should talk to your lawyer and case worker. They may be able to talk to Youth Justice about where you will stay.

Breaching an Order

You may be required to go back to court (breached) if your caseworker believes that you have not done what you were supposed to do under your:

• Graffiti Removal Order
• Probation Order
• Community Service Order
• Intensive Supervision Order
• Conditional Release Order
• Supervised Release Order
• Restorative Justice Order

You should see a lawyer.

If the court believes that you breached your order the court may:

• allow you to continue on the order
• change the conditions of your order or make it longer (except for a Supervised Release Order)
• make a different order for your charges (except for a Supervised Release Order)
• for a Supervised Release Order, the court can return you to detention

For some offences (Prescribed Offences) if you breach your Conditional Release Order the court must revoke (cancel) the Conditional Release Order and require you to serve the sentence in detention unless there are special circumstances.

What happens if I'm convicted?

If you are found guilty of an offence and a conviction is recorded, that is formally noted, you will have a criminal record. This means that even after you turn 18 people can be told about this offence. This may cause problems, for example, when you try to get a job or want to travel overseas.

If you do not break the law again for five years, in some situations you may be able to say that you have no conviction. You must see a lawyer before you say this to make sure this is correct for your situation as there are many circumstances after 5 years where this will not apply. You could be committing an offence of fraud by wrongly denying you have a conviction.

If you are found guilty of an offence but a conviction is not recorded, you will still have a court record in the Childrens Court as a child but once you turn 18 no-one generally needs to know about the matter.

Can I be made to go to Counselling?

If the court orders you to go to counselling (eg. for drugs/alcohol) then you must go, but the court will only make this type of order if you agree.  If you do not agree, the court may consider another type of order, including detention. You may be ordered to attend counselling under the following:

• Drug Diversion Assessment Program
• Probation Order
• Conditional Release Order
• Intensive Supervision Order

Can I be ordered to pay restitution or compensation?

A court can make you pay for any damage done, such as the cost of replacing damaged property or for medical costs or compensation for injury. A court can only do this if you have the money to pay for it. Restitution or compensation is not a sentence; it is for the victim of the offence to be paid for what they have lost or suffered and so the court can also make one of the other Orders listed above at the same time.

Your parents can also be ordered to pay for damage or injury caused by you if it seems you broke the law because your parents did not supervise you properly.

Treated unfairly?

If you think that you were wrongly found guilty or that your sentence was unfair, you need to talk to your lawyer immediately about an appeal - getting a (different) Judge to look at your case again. You only have a short time to ask for this to happen.

If you think you are not being fairly treated on an Intensive Supervision, Probation, Community Service, Conditional Release or Supervised Release Order, you should tell your caseworker. If you are still not happy you may wish to speak to a lawyer.

If you have a complaint about your treatment in detention, ask to speak to the manager, the community visitor or ask to contact a lawyer.

If you think that your lawyer has not done their best for you, talk to them about it. If you are still unhappy, you can complain to the Queensland Law Society - talk to one of the agencies under ‘Who can help’.

If you are under 18 and have to go to court, and you agree you did what the police say you did (plead guilty), or the court decides that you did it (finds you guilty), the court can carry out a number of Orders.

You must agree, before the court can order you to do any of the orders below, except for detention. If you do not agree, the court will give you another order which might include detention.