Young Offenders Act 1997

A child who has committed or is alleged to have committed an offence in respect of which a warning may be given is entitled to be dealt with by warning.

Despite subsection (1), the child is not entitled to be dealt with by warning if—

the circumstances of the offence involve violence, or

in the opinion of the investigating official, it is more appropriate to deal with it by another means because it is not in the interests of justice for the matter to be dealt with by warning.

A child is not precluded from being given a warning merely because the child has previously committed offences or been dealt with under this Act.

If an investigating official is of the opinion that it is not in the interests of justice to deal with a matter by warning a child and that it is appropriate to deal with it by other means, the investigating official must consider whether to deal with the matter under Part 4 or to refer it to a specialist youth officer under section 21 (2) for consideration of whether action should be taken under Part 5.