Making sure no child offender is left behind

Lorenzo Wakefield, a researcher at the Children’s Rights Project at the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape, believes it is unfortunate that the first test case for the Child Justice Act, involving the 15-year-old boy arrested for the murder of Eugene Terre’Blanche, should be a case so fraught with politics.

His concern is that the Act might come across as being “soft” on a child in conflict with the law, as its objectives are focused on rehabilitation and the reintegration of the child into the community. However, he points out that the Child Justice Act offers many different sentencing options, ranging from community-based sentences to a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

Around the country magistrates, prosecutors and court clerks are reporting for training in the Child Justice Act. While nobody disputes that it would have been preferable to have concluded the training before the Act was implemented, all seem relieved it is in force.

….

Among others, the Child Justice Act provides that:

• A child under the age of 10 does not have criminal capacity and cannot be prosecuted;
• A child older than 10 years but below the age of 14 years is presumed to lack criminal capacity, unless the state proves that the child has criminal capacity;
• A child who has been arrested must be assessed by a probation officer before the child appears at a preliminary inquiry. This informal pre-trial procedure is inquisitorial in nature. Here, the magistrate and prosecutor, with the child, his/her parents or guardian and the probation officer, decide on the best plan for the child after considering the probation officer’s assessment report;
• Every child who is arrested and remains in detention must appear within 48 hours at a preliminary inquiry;
• Children are diverted out of the criminal justice system, in appropriate cases;
• For children who are not diverted out of the system, matters are adjudicated in child justice courts and there is provision made for a wide range of sentencing options suited to the needs of the children; and
• A child under the age of 14 years cannot be sentenced to prison, although he or she could be sentenced to another form of detention, such as a youth care centre.