Juvenile Justice Act Article 18-4

A judicial police officer or the judicial police, where there appears one of the following urgent circumstances in conducting an investigation of a juvenile’s suspected criminal offense, may impose companion without a companion letter:1. where the juvenile concerned is strongly implicated to be a co-offender on ground of the statement of a person in flagrante delicto in addition to facts sufficient to warrant such strong implication;2. where the juvenile concerned has escaped from custody while under detention for forceful accommodation, pre-trial detention, corrective education or serving a sentence;3. where there are facts sufficient to warrant that he/she is strongly suspected of having committed an offense and the juvenile concerned runs away upon being stopped and interrogated;4. where the juvenile concerned is strongly suspected of having committed an offense punishable by the death penalty, or life imprisonment, or with minimum punishment of imprisonment for not less than five years, and there are facts sufficient to justify the view that the said juvenile may abscond.Provisions of Subparagraphs 1 and 3 of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to a juvenile who is suspected of having committed an offense that is obviously with maximum punishment being imprisonment for not more than three (3) years, detention, or may only be punished by a fine.Companion without a companion letter prescribed in Paragraph 1 of this article may be imposed only when the circumstances are so urgent that it is impossible to apply to the judge of the competent juvenile court for the issuance of a companion letter, and an application for the issuance of such a companion letter shall be made to the judge of the competent juvenile court immediately after such companion is imposed. Where the judge of the competent juvenile court denies the issuance of the said companion letter, the juvenile under companion without a companion letter shall be released immediately.