The Department of Justice has proposed to replace the current seven court-ordered community sentences with a new, single order.

The new order, which will take the “best aspects of current practice” both in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, is intended to be flexible, with a range or ‘menu’ of requirements that can be added/removed in a proportionate, tailored response to each child’s circumstances.

“When I published the strategic framework for youth justice in 2022, I committed to changing the youth court sentencing framework to make it easier for children and their families to understand and comply with orders,” justice minister Naomi Long said.

“This public consultation sets out the work that has been undertaken since then and enables us to gather views on our proposals for a new, single order.

“Our current system is very complex, with seven court orders, two supervisory bodies and multiple pieces of legislation.

“Many of the orders are rarely used, but children can be subject to a number of different orders at the same time.

“Our plan is to replace these with a single new order which can be tailored to the individual child to address their offending behaviour.”

The consultation will run for 12 weeks from 11 April to 4 July 2025.