Criminal Justice Act 1972

12 Suspended sentence supervision orders

(1) Where a court sentences an offender for a single offence to imprisonment for a term of more than six months and makes an order suspending the sentence under section 39(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1967, the court may make a suspended sentence supervision order (in this Act referred to as " a supervision order ") placing the offender under the supervision of a supervising officer for a period specified in the order not exceeding the period which under the said section 39(1) is the operational period in relation to the suspended sentence.

(2) The Secretary of State may by order—

(a) direct that subsection (1) above be amended by substituting, for the number of months specified in the subsection as originally enacted or as previously amended under this paragraph, such other number (not more than six) as the order may specify; or

(b) make in that subsection the repeals necessary to enable a court to exercise the powers of the subsection in the case of any suspended sentence, whatever the length of the term.

Orders under this subsection shall be made by statutory instrument subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament; and an order under paragraph (a) may be revoked by a subsequent order under paragraph (a) or (b).

(3) A supervision order shall specify the petty sessions area in which the offender resides or will reside; and the supervising officer shall be a probation officer appointed for or assigned to that area.

(4) An offender in respect of whom a supervision order is in force shall keep in touch with the supervising officer in accordance with such instructions as he may from time to time be given by that officer and shall notify him of any change of address.

(5) The court by which a supervision order is made shall forthwith give copies of the order to a probation officer assigned to the court, and he shall give a copy to the offender and the supervising officer; and the court shall, except where it is itself a magistrates' court acting for the petty sessions area specified in the order, send to the clerk to the justices for the petty sessions area specified in the order a copy of the order, together with such documents and information relating to the case as it considers likely to be of assistance to that court in exercising its functions in relation to the order.

(6) If a magistrates' court acting for the petty sessions area specified in a supervision order is satisfied that the offender proposes to change, or has changed, his residence from that petty sessions area to another petty sessions area, the court may, and if application in that behalf is made by the supervising officer shall, amend the order by substituting the other petty sessions area for the area specified therein, and references in this Act to the area specified in a supervision order shall be construed accordingly.

(7) Where a supervision order is amended by a court under subsection (6) of this section the court shall send to the clerk to the justices for the area which is specified in the order in consequence of the amendment a copy of the order, together with such documents and information relating to the case as it considers likely to be of assistance to a court acting for that area in exercising its functions in relation to the order.

(8) A supervision order shall cease to have effect if before the end of the period specified in it—

(a) a court orders under section 40 of the said Act of 1967 that a suspended sentence passed in the proceedings in which the order was made shall have effect; or

(b) the order is discharged or replaced under the subsequent provisions of this section.

(9) A supervision order may be discharged, on the application of the supervising officer or the offender, by the magistrates' court acting for the petty sessions area specified in the order except that, where the order was made by the Crown Court and includes a direction to that effect, the power conferred by this subsection shall be exercisable by the Crown Court and not by a magistrates' court.

(10) Where under paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 40 of the said Act of 1967 a court varies the operational period of a suspended sentence, or under paragraph (d) of that subsection makes no order with respect to such a sentence, the court may make a supervision order in respect of the offender—

(a) in place of any such order made when the suspended sentence was passed; or

(b) if the court which passed the sentence could have made such an order but did not do so ; or

(c) if that court had not the power to make such an order but would have had the power with subsection (1) of this section in force as it is at the time when the offender is dealt with under section 40(1).

(11) On making a supervision order the court shall in ordinary language explain its effect to the offender.

(12) In this section " suspended sentence " and " operational period " have the same meaning as in Part II of the said Act of 1967.