2. Interpretation
In this Act —
“acknowledging responsibility” means an admission of liability for an offence by a child without a formal admission of guilt;
“adoptive parent” means a person who has adopted a child under the Child (Care, Protection and Adoption) Act;
“appropriate adult” means a person, other than a parent, who has attained the age of eighteen years and who is —
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(a) a member of the family of the child;
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(b) a custodian or legal guardian of the child; or
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(c) a family friend;
“assessment” means the assessment of a child by a probation officer under sections 23 and 34;
“assigned officer”, in relation to —
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(a) a family group conference, means a person appointed under section 58(2);
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(b) diversion, means a person designated under section 74;
“attorney-at-law” means a person who is admitted to practice law under the Legal Profession Act;
“available services” includes social services, legal aid and child care services;
“biological father” includes a man who —
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(a) is the father of a child by blood;
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(b) is adjudged to be the father of a child; or
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(c) is a father as a result of artificial conception procedures under any other law;
“biological mother” includes a woman who —
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(a) gave birth to a child; or
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(b) is a mother as a result of artificial conception procedures under any other law;
“biological parent” means a biological mother or a biological father of a child;
“child” means a person under the age of eighteen years;
“child in conflict with the law” means a child who is alleged to have committed an offence;
“community service work” means work for a community organization or other work of value to the community performed by a child without payment;
“compulsory school age” means the age during which a child is obliged to attend school under section 27 of the Education Act;
“compulsory school attendance order” means an order requiring a child to attend school for a specified period to be monitored by a specified person;
“correctional facility” means a correctional facility under the Correctional Services Act;
“correctional supervision” means a sentence under section 60;
“Court” means a District Court, the Family Court or the High Court;
“detention” includes confinement in a police cell, lock-up, place of safety or secure residential facility;
“Director” means the Director of Probation;
“Director of Human Services” means a person appointed by the Public Service Commission as Director of Human Services within the Division responsible for human services;
“Director of Public Prosecutions” —
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(a) means the Director of Public Prosecutions appointed under section 89 of the Constitution of Saint Lucia; and
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(b) includes a representative or a person who holds the fiat of the Director of Public Prosecutions and a police prosecutor;
“diversion” means the removal of cases of a child in conflict with the law from the formal court procedures and the adoption of informal procedures in relation to the child, under Part VII;
“diversion option” means a plan or programme with a specified content and duration set out in three levels under section 72;
“family group conference” means a gathering convened by an assigned officer as a sentencing option under section 58;
“initial inquiry” means a procedure under Part V which takes place after an assessment and before trial in a Court;
“legal guardian”, in relation to a child, means a person appointed, by deed, will or by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction with legal responsibility and authority for making decisions with respect to a child;
“Minister” means the Minister responsible for legal affairs;
“parent” includes —
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(a) a biological parent or adoptive parent who has the parental responsibility of the child;
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(b) a person, who has stood in loco parentis to a child for a period of not less than one year and who has a continuing relationship with the child; or
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(c) a legal guardian;
“parental responsibility” means the duties, powers, rights responsibilities, and authority that a parent of a child has in relation to that child under the law;
“place of assessment” means a place designated or certified by the Minister under section 6 to receive a child in conflict with the law;
“place of safety” means a place or institution, other than a police cell, lock-up or a correctional facility, whereby the person in charge is willing to receive and take care of a child in conflict with the law temporarily and which, in the opinion of the Court, provides safety for a child;
“police custody” includes keeping by the police in a place of assessment or secure residential facility;
“police officer” means a member of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force under section 3 of the Police Act;
“prescribed” means prescribed by Regulations made under section 79;
“relative”, in relation to a child, means a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, or aunt of a child, whether the relationship is by blood, affinity or adoption;
“residential requirement” means compulsory residence in a secure residential facility or a place other than the home of the child;
“restorative justice” means an approach to justice which aims to involve a child in conflict with the law, the victim, the families concerned and community members to collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations through accepting responsibility making restitution, taking measures to prevent a recurrence of the incident and promoting reconciliation;
“secure residential facility” means a residential facility established or certified by the Minister under section 7;
“supervision and guidance order” —
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(a) means an order placing a child under the supervision and guidance of a mentor or peer in order to guide the behaviour of the child; and
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(b) includes a probation order;
“symbolic compensation” means the giving of an object owned, made, or brought by a child to a person, or group of persons or an institution as compensation for the harm caused by the child.