Section 31 — Youth Criminal Justice Act: Placement of young person in care of responsible person

A young person who has been arrested may be placed in the care of a responsible person instead of being detained in custody if a youth justice court or a justice is satisfied that the young person would, but for this subsection, be detained in custody under section 515 (judicial interim release) of the Criminal Code ; the person is willing and able to take care of and exercise control over the young person; and the young person is willing to be placed in the care of that person. If a young person would, in the absence of a responsible person, be detained in custody, the youth justice court or the justice shall inquire as to the availability of a responsible person and whether the young person is willing to be placed in that person’s care. A young person shall not be placed in the care of a person under subsection (1) unless that person undertakes in writing to take care of and to be responsible for the attendance of the young person in court when required and to comply with any other conditions that the youth justice court judge or the justice may specify; and the young person undertakes in writing to comply with the arrangement and to comply with any other conditions that the youth justice court judge or the justice may specify. A young person, a person in whose care a young person has been placed or any other person may, by application in writing to a youth justice court judge or a justice, apply for an order under subsection (5) if the person in whose care the young person has been placed is no longer willing or able to take care of or exercise control over the young person; or it is, for any other reason, no longer appropriate that the young person remain in the care of the person with whom he or she has been placed. When a youth justice court judge or a justice is satisfied that a young person should not remain in the custody of the person in whose care he or she was placed under subsection (1), the judge or justice shall make an order relieving the person and the young person of the obligations undertaken under subsection (3); and issue a warrant for the arrest of the young person. If a young person is arrested in accordance with a warrant issued under paragraph (5)(b), the young person shall be taken before a youth justice court judge or a justice without delay and dealt with under this section and sections 28 to 30.