Policy background Youth Justice Detention and Training Orders
A Detention and Training Order ("DTO") is a youth custodial sentence that can be given for 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 18 or 24 months. This is fixed in section 236(1) of the Code and is the only youth sentence with fixed lengths. Section 158 amends the Code to remove the fixed lengths so that a DTO of any length, from 4 to 24 months can be given.
	Time spent on remand or bail (where it is subject to a qualifying curfew condition and an electronic monitoring condition) is currently taken into account by the court in their sentence calculation when deciding which of the fixed lengths to impose. Schedule 16 amends the Code so that so that time spent on remand or on qualifying bail is to count as time served under sections 240ZA and 240A of the CJA 2003.
	When a DTO and another sentence of detention are served consecutively, the order in which the sentences are given, impacts on the amount of early release available. Section 159 removes this inconsistency.