{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/sentencing-act-2020/section-259",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/sentencing-act-2020/section-259.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2020/17",
  "legislation_title": "Sentencing Act 2020",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/sentencing-act-2020",
  "path": "section/259",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "259",
  "heading": "Offenders who commit murder etc when under 18: duty to detain at Her Majesty's pleasure",
  "text": "(1) This section applies where—\n(a) a court is dealing with a person convicted of—\n(i) murder, or\n(ii) any other offence the sentence for which is fixed by law as life imprisonment, and\n(b) the person appears to the court to have been aged under 18 at the time the offence was committed.\n(2) The court must sentence the offender to be detained during Her Majesty's pleasure.\n(3) Subsection (2) applies notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "S. 259 in force at 1.12.2020 by S.I. 2020/1236, reg. 2"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/17/section/259",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:00:57.370248+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}