The Youth Justice Bail After-hours Service (YJBAS) is a state-wide, after-hours, bail assessment and advice service. It provides a single point of contact for bail assessments and advice in matters where police are seeking to remand a young person after hours.
From 30 April 2023 YJBAS replaces Central After Hours Assessment and Bail Placement Service (CAHABPS), delivered by Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
How to contact YJBAS
Phone: 1300 313 381 (External link)
Email: yjbas@justice.vic.gov.au (External link)
Hours of operation:
- Monday to Friday 5pm - 3am
- Saturday and Sunday 8am - 3am
- Public holidays: 8am - 3am
During normal business hours, please contact your local youth justice unit.
Who contacts YJBAS:
- When Victoria Police are considering remanding a young person after hours, they must contact YJBAS and allow the young person to be in contact with a YJBAS worker prior to a bail/remand hearing.
- A young person appearing at the Children's Court Weekend Online Remand Court (WORC) may be referred to YJBAS by a legal representative or magistrate.
- Young people, their family, carers, support workers or community members can contact YJBAS for support and advice regarding the police remand process.
What YJBAS does
YJBAS conducts bail assessments with young people and provides advice to bail decision makers after hours, including bail justices and magistrates.
When police seek to remand a young person after hours, the young person will be referred to YJBAS for an assessment. YJBAS will either attend the police station in person, or remotely via audiovisual technology, to conduct a bail suitability assessment with the young person (if they consent to this). YJBAS will then provide a recommendation to the bail decision maker regarding the young person's suitability to be supervised by Youth Justice if placed on bail.
The bail decision
Decisions about bail or remand for young people after hours are made by bail justices or magistrates at the WORC. During business hours, these decisions are made by magistrates at the Children's Court of Victoria.
The WORC is a specialist Children's Court operating online across Victoria from 3pm to 9pm on weekends and most public holidays. The WORC hears online bail and remand applications from across the state, increasing access to justice for young people in metropolitan and regional Victoria.
YJBAS supports informed decision making by bail decision makers, consistent with the key principles of diversion and minimum intervention that underpin the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (External link).