PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON CORRECTIONAL SERVICES ON MATTERS RELATED TO THE PRIORITISATION OF CHILDREN IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW AND CUSTODY OF CHILDREN UNDER 18

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PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON
CORRECTIONAL SERVICES ON MATTERS RELATED TO THE
PRIORITISATION OF CHILDREN IN CONFLICT WITH THE
LAW AND CUSTODY OF CHILDREN UNDER 18

• DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL
  DEVELOPMENT
• 09 June 2008

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Requests from the Portfolio Committee

• The Departments efforts to -
• sensitise magistrates and judges to the specific
  needs of children in conflict with the law and
• the necessity of diverting children rather than
  sentencing them to imprisonment
• Measures put in place to ensure that cases
  involving child offenders are prioritised

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SENSITISATION OF MAGISTRATES

• Justice College includes restorative justice in
  its curriculum for training magistrates and the
  Child Law Manual,
• In addition
• Workshops on Restorative Justice, Diversion
  Alternative Sentences conducted during 2005/6 and
  2006/7 attended by approx 380 magistrates in the
  9 provinces including Regional Court Magistrates
  
• Bench Book for Magistrates

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SENSITISATION OF MAGISTRATES

• The Lower Court Management Committee (LCMC) of
  the Judiciary, has published a Circular to all
  Magistrates via the Magistrates Commission, to
  fast-track and prioritise childrens cases and to
  use imprisonment as a measure of last resort,
  where possible

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DIVERSION

• Numbers of diversions by the National Prosecuting
  Authority has increased by 20 every year from
  2003/04
• The NPA has promoted diversion for Children
  where-ever possible and has published and trained
  on prosecutorial guidelines in this regard
• The NPA has further established a Children
  Awaiting Trial Project, to encourage
  fast-tracking and prioritization of childrens
  cases
• This includes inter alia, the establishment of
  Case Review Task Teams on local level, under the
  lead of the Director of Public Prosecutions in
  each province, to ensure that the dockets are
  ready for trial and follow-up outstanding issues
  regularly

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Prioritisation of childrens cases

• Time policy for handling childrens cases, agreed
  upon and implemented
• 3 6 months for children in District
  Court-cases
• 6 9 months for children in Regional
  Court-cases
• 9 12 months for children in High Court-cases
• Continuous focus has led to a reduction of
  children awaiting trial in correctional
  facilities, by 50 during past five (5) years
• Only 28 of children await trial longer than 3
  6 months, usually for most serious and violent
  crimes

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Reasons for children awaiting trial in
correctional facilities

• Multiple charges
• Children accused with adults
• Serious and violent crimes
• Dysfunctional families
• Lack of secure facilities

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Sentenced children

• The numbers of children sentenced to direct
  imprisonment, has decreased by 40 during the
  past five years
• The numbers of children sentenced to parole and
  community corrections, have increased during the
  past few years
• Development of Non-custodial Sanctions
• Piloting programs in 5 Magisterial Districts
  during 2008/09
• Randburg, Gauteng East London, Eastern Cape
  Bellville, Western Cape Kimberley, Northern
  Cape and Odi, North-West

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Present initiatives continued

• The Interim National Protocol for the Management
  of Children Awaiting Trial, applies whilst the
  Child Justice Bill is being deliberated upon by
  the Portfolio Committee on Justice and
  Constitutional Development.

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Monitoring structuresInter-Sectoral Committee
on Child Justice

• The ISCCJ was mandated to inter-sectorally
  implement the new child justice system and
  promote inter-sectoral collaboration on children
  in conflict with the law
• Government departments
• NGOS
• C9s

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ISCCJ Sub Committee

• Children Awaiting Trial Committee
• to monitor case cycle times for the finalization
  of childrens cases,
• to track children and ensure that they spend the
  least amount of time awaiting trial
• Child Justice Information Management Committee
• to establish a co-ordinated database and
  electronic tracking system for children.
• Provincial Child Justice Fora

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Current Legislation

• Criminal Procedure Act
• Limited in terms of diversion currently policy
  of NPA
• Limited non-custodial sanctions
• Child Justice Bill
• Legislate Restorative Justice which includes
  diversion and options for non-custodial sanctions
  

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Challenges

• Restorative Justice still a novel concept and is
  applied cautiously by officials within the
  criminal justice system
• Promoting this principle will lead to larger
  numbers of children being managed either through
  diversion or non-custodial sanctions
• This will reduce the burden on placing children
  in facilities and institutions and rather place
  them in programmes that are better placed in
  communities

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DOJCD

• Questions?
• THANK YOU