Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016

Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016

2016 CHAPTER 18

Commentary on Sections

Part 10 – Criminal Justice

Chapter 2 – Powers of Court on Conviction

Section 177 - Interim detention orders

Before making a public protection order, hospital direction or dealing with the offender in some other way, this section provides that the Crown Court may make an interim detention order where a person is convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment, other than an offence for which the sentence is fixed by law. A court of summary jurisdiction is also given power to make an interim detention order where a person is convicted of an offence punishable on summary conviction with imprisonment.

Before an interim detention order can be made, the court must be satisfied on the required medical evidence that: the offender has an impairment of, or disturbance in the functioning of, the mind or brain; that appropriate care or treatment is available for the offender in the hospital specified in the order; and there is reason to suppose that the most suitable way of dealing with the case may be to make a public protection order or to pass a custodial sentence and give a hospital direction.

The section provides that a court may not make an interim detention order unless satisfied on the written or oral evidence of a person representing the managing authority of the hospital specified in the order that arrangements have been made for the offender’s detention in that hospital.