The Community Order (Review by Specified Courts) Order 2007

Statutory Instruments

2007 No. 2162

CRIMINAL LAW, ENGLAND AND WALES

The Community Order (Review by Specified Courts) Order 2007

Made

21st July 2007

Coming into force

22nd July 2007

The Secretary of State makes the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 178(1)(1) and 330(3)(a) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003(2);

In accordance with section 330(5) of that Act, a draft of this instrument was laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Community Order (Review by Specified Courts) Order 2007 and shall come into force on the day after the day on which it is made.

(2) In this Order “the 2003 Act” means the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Power to provide for court review

2.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3) a court specified in paragraph (2) may—

(a) when making a community order provide for that order to be reviewed periodically by that or another court specified in paragraph (2);

(b) amend a community order so as to include or remove a provision for review by that or another court specified in paragraph (2).

(2) The courts referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a) a magistrates’ court sitting at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, Victoria Law Courts, Corporation Street, Birmingham, B4 6QA,

(b) a magistrates’ court sitting at Bradford Magistrates’ Court, The Tyrls, Bradford, BD1 1JL,

(c) a magistrates’ court sitting at the City of Salford Magistrates’ Court, Bexley Square, Salford, M3 6DJ,

(d) a magistrates’ court sitting at Enfield Magistrates’ Court, The Court House, Lordship Lane, Tottenham, London, N17 6RT,

(e) a magistrates’ court sitting at Haringey Magistrates’ Court, Highgate Court House, Bishops Road, Archway Road, Highgate, London N6 4HS,

(f) a magistrates’ court sitting at Kingston-upon-Hull Magistrates’ Court, The Law Courts, Market Place, Kingston-upon-Hull, HU1 2AD,

(g) a magistrates’ court sitting at Leicester Magistrates’ Court, 15 Pocklingtons Walk, Leicester, LE1 6BT,

(h) a magistrates’ court sitting at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates’ Court, Law Courts, Merthyr Tydfil, CF47 8BU,

(i) a magistrates’ court sitting at North Liverpool Community Justice Centre, Boundary Street, Liverpool, L5 2QD, or the Crown Court sitting at that address,

(j) a magistrates’ court sitting at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court, Carrington Street, Nottingham, NG2 1EE,

(k) a magistrates’ court sitting at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court, St. Andrews Street, Plymouth, PL1 2DP,

(l) a magistrates’ court sitting at South Western Magistrates’ Court, 176a Lavender Hill, Battersea, London, SW11 1JU,

(m) a magistrates’ court sitting at Stratford Magistrates’ Court, The Court House, 389-397 High Street, Stratford, London, E15 4SB, and

(n) a magistrates’ court sitting at Teesside Magistrates’ Court, Teesside Law Courts, Victoria Square, Middlesbrough, TS1 2AS.

(3) Nothing in this article shall enable a magistrates’ court to include provision for review by the Crown Court when making a community order.

3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) a community order providing for review by a court may—

(a) provide for the order to be reviewed periodically at specified intervals;

(b) provide for each review to be made, subject to article 4(4), at a hearing held for the purpose by the court responsible for the order (“a review hearing”);

(c) require the offender to attend each review hearing; and

(d) provide for the responsible officer to make to the court responsible for the order, before each review, a report on the offender’s progress in complying with the requirements of the order.

(2) Where a community order imposes a drug rehabilitation requirement under section 177(1) (i) of the 2003 Act, provision for review of that requirement shall be made in accordance with section 210 of the 2003 Act.

(3) In this article references to the court responsible for the order are references to the court specified in the community order as responsible for reviewing the order.

Power to amend community order at review hearing

4.—(1) At a review hearing (within the meaning of article 3(1)) the court may, after considering any responsible officer’s report prepared pursuant to that paragraph, amend the requirements of the community order, or any provision of the order which relates to those requirements.

(2) The court—

(a) may not amend the order so as to impose a requirement of a different kind unless the offender expresses his willingness to comply with that requirement;

(b) may not amend the order so as to make a requirement more onerous unless the offender expresses his willingness to comply with the requirement as amended;

(c) may not amend a mental health treatment requirement or an alcohol treatment requirement unless the offender expresses his willingness to comply with the requirement as amended;

(d) may, subject to sub-paragraph (b), extend the duration of a particular requirement (subject to any limit imposed by Chapter 4 of Part 12 of the 2003 Act) but may not extend the date specified under section 177(5) of the 2003 Act by which all the requirements in the order must have been complied with; and

(e) except with the consent of the offender, may not amend the order while an appeal against that order is pending.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a)—

(a) a requirement falling within any paragraph of section 177(1) of the 2003 Act is of the same kind as any other requirement falling within that paragraph; and

(b) an electronic monitoring requirement is a requirement of the same kind as any requirement falling within section 177(1) to which it relates.

(4) If before a review hearing is held at any review the court, after considering any responsible officer’s report prepared pursuant to article 3(1), is of the opinion that the offender’s progress in complying with the requirements of the order is satisfactory, it may order that no review hearing is to be held at that review; and if before a review hearing is held at any review, or at a review hearing, the court, after considering any such report, is of that opinion, it may amend the community order so as to provide for each subsequent review to be held without a hearing.

(5) If at a review held without a hearing the court, after considering any responsible officer’s report prepared pursuant to article 3(1), is of the opinion that the offender’s progress under the order is no longer satisfactory, the court may require the offender to attend a hearing of the court at a specified time and place.

(6) If at a review hearing the court is of the opinion that the offender has without reasonable excuse failed to comply with any of the requirements of the order, the court may adjourn the hearing for the purpose of dealing with the case under paragraph 9 or 10 of Schedule 8 to the 2003 Act.

(7) At a review hearing the court may amend the community order so as to vary the intervals specified under article 3(1)(a).

(8) In this article, any reference to the court, in relation to a review without a hearing, is to be read —

(a) in the case of the Crown Court, as a reference to a judge of the court; and

(b) in the case of a magistrates’ court, as a reference to a justice of the peace.

Revocation

5.  The Community Order (Review by Specified Courts in Liverpool and Salford) Order 2006(3) is hereby revoked.

David Hanson

Minister of State

Ministry of Justice

21st July 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order is the second use of the power contained in section 178 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 which allows the Secretary of State, by order, to give criminal courts the power to review community orders made under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and to make provisions relating to the frequency and conduct of those reviews and the courts’ power upon review. This power was first used in relation to a pilot conducted at the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre and the City of Salford Magistrates’ Court by the Community Order (Review by Specified Courts in Liverpool and Salford) Order 2006 (“the 2006 Order”). The pilot is now being extended to a further twelve magistrates’ courts.

This Order provides for the courts listed in Article 2(2) to make provision for reviews of community orders either when making or amending a community order. Article 3 makes provision in relation to the timing of reviews, and allows among other things, the provision of a report on the offender’s progress to be provided by the responsible officer to the court before each review. Article 4 makes provision in relation to the court’s power to amend the community order at a review hearing. It also includes provision enabling a review to be held without a hearing. Article 5 revokes the 2006 Order; the courts specified in the 2006 Order are now listed in Article 2(2) of this Order.

(1)

The power in section 178(1) is extended by section 178(2).

(2)

2003 c.44.

(3)

S.I. 2006/1006