25DRequirements as to gender of search officer conducting search, &c.

25D Requirements as to gender of search officer conducting search, &c.

[Section 25D of Part 3 Inserted by No. 14 of 2022, s. 6, Applied:01 Dec 2022]

(1)  In this section –

person of the required gender, in relation to a youth, means –

(a) if the youth is male or female and paragraph (b) does not apply to the youth, a person who is male or female, respectively; or

(b) [Section 25D Subsection (1) amended by No. 19 of 2023, s. 14, Applied:21 Sep 2023] if the youth is transsexual, transgender or has variations of sex characteristics –

(i) a person of the gender that the youth requests; or

(ii) if a person of the gender requested is not immediately available, a person who is, at the further request of the youth, male or female.

(2)  A search of a youth that does not involve the removal of any clothing being worn by the youth or the touching of the youth is to be conducted as far as is reasonable and practicable by a search officer who is a person of the required gender in relation to the youth.

(3)  A search of a youth that involves the removal of any clothing being worn by the youth or the touching of the youth –

(a) is to be conducted by a search officer who is a person of the required gender in relation to the youth; and

(b) is, if the search is an unclothed search and is conducted in the presence of persons other than the youth and the search officer – to be conducted in the presence only of other persons who are persons of the required gender in relation to the youth.

(4)  Subsection (3) does not apply in relation to a youth if the person in charge of the custodial facility in which the search is conducted believes on reasonable grounds that it is not reasonable or practicable for that subsection to apply in relation to the youth because of the urgency with which the search is required in order to address the risk of harm or trauma to the youth or another person.