Detention and training orders and other youth custody routes

A detention and training orderGlossary termDetention and training order, or DTO, is the ordinary youth custodial sentence combining detention and training with supervised time in the community. Code, sections 233–236, ordinarily make it available for an imprisonable offence where the child is at least 12 but under 18 when convicted. For a child 12–14, the court must additionally find that the child is a persistent offender. Return to section 1 where proceedings began before 18 but conviction followed that birthday. Sources: Judicial College — Child Defendants in the Crown Court, June 2025, Sentencing Council — Sentencing Children and Young People, Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified

Persistence is not a fixed conviction count. Examine a continuing pattern, the nature and frequency of offending and the child’s previous contact with authority and opportunities to respond. Do not equate a single serious offence with persistence. Nor is the inquiry necessarily defeated because several offences in a continuing series are being dealt with at the first finding of guilt. Give a reasoned finding on the actual history. A 14-year-old for whom persistence is not established cannot receive an ordinary DTO merely because the offence crosses the custody threshold. Separate exceptional Crown Court powers may nevertheless need consideration. Sources: Sentencing Council — Sentencing Children and Young People, Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified

A DTO requires the custody-threshold and last-resort assessment, the applicable legal-representation safeguards and the required report. Code, section 226, restricts custody for an unrepresented offender, subject to its specified legal-aid withdrawal, refusal or informed failure-to-apply exceptions. It is not enough to say that representation would have been inconvenient. Use the child-specific report test in section 7 and explain why a lawful community alternative is inadequate. Sources: Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified

Length: any term from four to 24 months. Since 28 June 2022, the old fixed menu of permitted DTO lengths has been removed. The term must still be at least four months, no more than 24 months, and no longer than the applicable adult maximum for that offence. The overall statutory restriction on multiple DTOs prevents avoiding the 24-month limit by simply adding consecutive orders. Do not import an adult magistrates’ ordinary imprisonment limit as the general DTO maximum. Sources: Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified, Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 — youth remand and DTO amendments

Credit can change the disposal. If the justified DTO, after guilty-plea reduction, would be below four months, impose an appropriate non-custodial sentence rather than round it back up. This is not the same as deducting remand credit from the lawful sentence term. The post-28 June 2022 YDA/qualifying-bail credit rules are described in section 6; they count qualifying time already served and must not be applied twice. Sources: Judicial College — Child Defendants in the Crown Court, June 2025, Sentencing Council — Sentencing Children and Young People, Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified, Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 — youth remand and DTO amendments

Detention and supervision are both parts of the order. The ordinary release point is halfway through the DTO, followed by supervision for the remainder. Statutory early/delayed release and credit provisions can affect the actual dates. A 12-month DTO is therefore not ordinarily 12 months of physical detention, and a sentence should not be increased simply because supervision follows detention. Explain the supervisor’s role and that breach of supervision or a further offence can trigger the distinct statutory return-to-court consequences; the order does not end merely when the child leaves detention. Sources: Judicial College — Child Defendants in the Crown Court, June 2025, Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified

Other Crown Court routes are not longer DTOs. Section 250 detention is a separate sentence for qualifying serious offences; the court must be satisfied that the other methods are unsuitable and cannot exceed the applicable adult maximum. Extended detention under sections 254–255 adds a protective licence period where the specific offence, age, dangerousness and custodial-term conditions are met. Detention for life has its own conditions. Murder committed while under 18 attracts detention during His Majesty’s pleasure under section 259: the relevant trigger is age at the offence, not an assumption that every defendant who is now a child receives the same minimum term. Sources: Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified

The section 252A required special sentence for certain offenders of particular concern is another distinct regime, not an extended DTO or the generic dangerousness sentence. Its new national-security limb applies to the specified offences committed on or after 22 March 2026, with the other statutory conditions, including the interaction with life or extended sentences and the court otherwise imposing custody. Do not apply that new limb retrospectively because conviction occurs after commencement. The existing terrorism limb requires its own offence and temporal analysis. Sources: Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 51A, Sentencing Act 2026, sections 7 and 49

Adult community orders, suspended sentences and adult release reforms must not be used as interchangeable youth disposals. Keep the defendant’s correct age trigger and sentence type visible throughout. A policy announcement or a provision with a future commencement date is not an operative youth sentencing power. Sources: Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code) — base provisions with amendments separately identified, Sentencing Act 2026, sections 7 and 49, Criminal Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2026, SI 2026/721, Sentencing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 6 …) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/953