Cape Town – Over 500 children were imprisoned for breaking the law between April last year and March 2011, as compared to 668 the previous year in the same period.
Also, in the year leading to March 2011, about 800 other children were put under correctional supervision while 34 others were fined.
A further 137 had received “restorative justice” and 110 sentenced to “compulsory residence” (Reform School) under the Department of Basic Education.
According to statistics from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), a total of 15 588 children were “diverted” from formal courts to the Child Justice Courts in the same period in comparison to 16 173 in 2009/2010.
This came out in Parliament on Wednesday in a consolidated report by various departments involved in the implementation of the 2008 Child Justice Act.
The report was presented by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice.
Among those who attended the briefing were members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services and officials from various departments playing a part in implement the Act.
The absence of the NPA in the house at the beginning of the meeting was a cause of concern for the committee members.
The house heard that part of the objective of the Act was to establish a criminal justice system for children in line with the “values underpinning our Constitution and our international obligations.”
It was also to “entrench the principles of restorative justice while ensuring children’s responsibility and accountability for crimes committed,” as well as balancing their interests and those of society around the rights of victims.
The Act also set to raise the minimum age of criminal capacity for children from seven to 10 years.
Dedicated infrastructure that had been set up to deal with child matters included all courts across the country, five reform schools, 64 psychiatric hospitals and rehabilitation centers, 28 child and youth care centres and two “One Stop Child Justice Centres.”
The Department of Social Development was said to have assessed a total of 32 494 children in the 2010/2011 period.
The report said that in the same period, an additional R30 million budget was supplied and divided between the Justice Department, NPA and Legal Aid South Africa.
For the 2011/12 period, over R52 million has been made available to deal with child crimes. – Francis Hweshe, BuaNews
