Preparing the South African community for implementing a new restorative child justice system

Source: (2003) In, Lode Walgrave, ed., Repositioning Restorative Justice. Devon: Willan Publishing. Pp. 271-283.

At the time Buyi Mbambo and Ann Skelton were writing this chapter, South Africa did not have a separate statute for children accused of crimes. Following an official study by the South African Law Commission at the behest of the Ministry of Justice, the government prepared to enact the Child Justice Bill, the first such law in South Africa. Mbambo and Skelton explore South Africa’s path toward a new restorative child justice system. They do so by examining the Child Justice Bill and restorative justice, the African philosophy of ubuntu and the interests of the child, traditional approaches to conflicts, socio-cultural changes, two illustrative case studies, and the prospects for restorative justice in South Africa.