Persistent Offender

A child who persists in committing criminal offences. Persistent offender has no legal definition,  but but someone having committed “imprisonable offences on at least three occasions in the past 12 months” can reasonably classed as a “repeat offender”. 

A court sentencing a child may need to decide if they are a persistent offender, this is because 12 – 14 year olds cannot be sentenced to a Detention and Training Order (DTO)  or a Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO) with Intensive Supervision and Surveillance (ISS) or Intensive Fostering (IF),  unless they are a persistent offender.