Commentary Section 9: The Juvenile Justice Board
27.The Criminal Justice Review recommended the creation of a next steps agency which would take on responsibility for the range of responsibilities which fell to the Juvenile Justice Board (recommendation 185).  The functions of the Board have been transferred to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and are now being exercised by the Youth Justice Agency, which was established on 1 April 2003.  In addition, the new Agency incorporates youth conferencing services.  The purpose of this section is to substitute references in the 2002 Act to the Juvenile Justice Board for reference to the Youth Justice Agency (subsections (1), (2) and (4) and to remove references to the Board in the 2002 Act and other legislation where they are no longer appropriate (subsections (3) and (5)).