Briefing to the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development:

Presentation of Child Justice National Policy Framework, in terms of sections 93 and 96 of

Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008)

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development; as Chair of DG’s Inter-Sectoral Child Justice Steering Committee

01 September 2010

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Index of Presentation

1.1 DG’s ISCCJ governance matters

1.2 Implementation of the Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008):(i) Progress, (ii) challenges, (iii) interventions, and(iv) performance thus far.

2. The National Policy Framework on Child Justice in terms of sections 93 and 96 of the Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008)

3. Outline (and contents) of Child Justice National Policy Framework

4. Processes in terms of the tabling and publishing of the NPF by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development

5. Conclusion.

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1.1 DG’s ISCCJ Governance Matters

• The DG’s ISCCJ has met three times this year.

– The first meeting in March concentrated on the mandate and governance of the ISCCJ.

– The second meeting on the 19th May considered the National Policy Framework and the Accreditation Framework for Diversion; and

– The third meeting on the 19th August 2010 considered the impact of the implementation of the Child Justice Act, 2008, since the 1st April 2010; approved the proposed Guidelines for the Establishment and Management of One Stop Child Justice Centres, and agreed on quarterly meetings.

• The DG of the DOJCD chairs the meeting, with the National Department of Social Development nominated as Deputy Chair of the DG’s ISCCJ.

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1.2 Impact of Implementation of Child Justice Act, 2008

• The Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008), was implemented with effect from the 1st April 2010.

• Analysis of the impact on ground level indicate that the implementation of the formal system to manage children in conflict with the law, is working, in that -

– less children are going through the formal criminal justice system; and

– more children are being managed from the outset outside the formal criminal justice system. In this regard, the processes and systems at ground level, indicates, that:

The police are arresting less children and making more use of alternative ways to take children to court, through summonses or notices to appear in court;

The prosecution is diverting children who commit minor offences, more readily, through the prosecutor’s diversion in terms of Chapter 6; or referring them to children’s court inquiries, as children in need of care and protection; and

The prosecution is recommending diversion of children who commit more serious offences, more readily, at the preliminary inquiries in terms of Chapter 7 of the Act.

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Impact of Implementation (continued)

– The police, probation officers and legal aid attorneys are contacting one

another more readily to ensure assessment of all arrested children within the

48 hours period; or children summonsed to appear in court, within the period

before the children need to appear in court.

– All children whose cases whose cases are not diverted or managed outside

of the criminal justice system, go through the preliminary inquiries at court,

instead of first court appearance.

• Monitoring:

– The period after implementation, has been short (since April 2010);

– Monitoring systems have been developed and are in the process of being

implemented;

– Departments are busy with the collating and analysis of the relevant

statistics, and we envisage the results to be provided in the 2nd quarterly

report.

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Successes of implementation

– Implementation of the Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008), as from 1st April 2010, has gone well thus far. Successes of implementation, include:

– Formal documentation, have been drafted and tabled in line with the provisions of the Child Justice Act, 2008:

Regulations were published during March 2010 by DoJ&CD; National Directives of National Director of Public Prosecutions

were tabled in March 2010; Interim National Instructions of SAPS were tabled in March 2010;

and the final National Instructions were tabled during May 2010; The National Policy Framework on Child Justice was tabled

during June 2010 and published during August 2010; The Diversion Accreditation Framework was tabled by DSD

during June 2010

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Successes (continued)

– Guidelines for the management and establishment of One Stop Child

Justice Centres were approved by the DG’s ISCCJ on 19th August

2010;

– Feasibility business plans for the designation of One Stop Child Justice

Centres have been requested from Provincial Child Justice Fora;

– The first Annual Reports on progress with implementation of the Act

and the National Policy Framework, in terms of the Child Justice Act,

2008, will be tabled by the various Departments concerned, by April

2011.

• Monthly National Operational ISCCJ-meetings, supported by

Provincial Child Justice Fora-meetings, continue to monitor impact

of and agree on holistic implementation and monitoring of the Act,

concerned, addressing challenges or gaps which may emerge.

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Successes (continued)

• Children awaiting trial in Correctional Facilities (Prisons):

– Major achievement, showing success of implementation of Act:

During 2002, there were an average of 2269 children awaiting

trial on a monthly basis in prisons;

Which decreased to an average of 1192 during 2007; and

Continued focussed attention has led to a continuous decrease

of children awaiting trial in prisons.

– As on 30th June 2010, only 297 children were awaiting trial in

prisons, mostly for serious and violent crimes:

17 years old: 187;

16 years old: 77;

15 years old: 29;

14 years old: 4.

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Successes (continued)

• Child and Youth Care Facilities

(for awaiting trial and sentenced children):

– DSD has finalised and circulated norms and standards for Child and Youth Care Facilities.

– Will link with designation and establishment of One Stop Child Justice Centres.

DSD and DoBE are busy with handover processes of existing Reform Schools and Schools of Industry to National DSD, in terms of Children’s Act, 2005 (Act No 38 of 2005), by 1st April 2012.

In meantime, DSD is also planning building/ refurbishing separate wings for at least 1 Child and Youth Care Facility per province, for sentenced children.

In Western Cape, administrative procedures for accepting children on court orders, have been sorted out between DSD and DoBE.

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Successes of implementation (continued)

• Communication and awareness-raising:– Child Justice Act, 2008, launched successfully in Soweto, on the 1st

April 2010;

– There is ongoing communication in the media; with NGO’s and on ground level, led by Provincial Child Justice For a as well as outreach campaigns to communities, schools and NGO’s.

– A holistic and co-ordinated communication strategy is under development:

DG’s ISCCJ agreed on co-ordinated communication strategy during August 2010.

Interdepartmental communication task team, met on the 30th August 2010, to agree on way forward.

Child Justice JCPS Communication strategy for all Government Departments is being developed under lead of DoJCD PEC and GCIS.

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Successes (continued)• Inter-sectoral training:

– Intersectoral training manual developed for all Departments involved, during 2009/10.

– 9 intersectoral training sessions held under lead of Provincial Child Justice Fora, before 1st April 2010.

• Departmental training:– Each Department now training their individual officials on

continuous and intensified basis.

• DoJ&CD: – Justice College has started training Child Justice Court Clerks in all

9 provinces, as from May 2010, with the last provincial training to take place during October 2010, where-after a further National Workshop is planned for train-the –trainers, to take the training to the various provinces.

290 Clerks have been trained during 7 decentralised training sessions;

Further 150 Clerks will be trained by end October 2010. Annual training will continue.

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Training (continued)

– Judges and Magistracy: The Magistracy have requested the Judicial Education Institute and the

DoJCD for support with their own training sessions, such as the Gauteng Magistracy, who held a 2 day training workshop on the 19th and 20th May 2010 in Gauteng.

The Judges of the High Court have requested an information session on the Child Justice Act, 2008, for the 8th September 2010.

– DSD: All Probation Officers, have been trained and continuous training is being

planned. NGO’s and diversion service providers, have been trained on the

Minimum Norms and Standards for Diversion Services.

– NPA: National directives, circulated as guidelines and first set of provincial

training to all prosecutors, done. Second set of training, under way. NPA assists with intersectoral training.

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Successes, continued:

– Information Management:

Templates have been developed in terms of the Act, to request the

various Departments to submit the relevant information, from

arrest to sentencing, to the Cluster on a monthly basis.

The Cluster is moving towards an electronic system, but

Departments are at present still compiling information on a manual

basis.

DoJCD is following a 3-step process:

• Developed a manual statistical tool for Court Clerks to

complete: first trends’ analysis, expected by end October

2010.

• In process of developing an integrated Case Management

System on Child Justice.

• This will link with IJS electronically when all Government

Departments’ systems are on line.

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Successes (continued)

• Diversion:

– The principle of managing children as much as possible outside of

the formal criminal justice system is being applied, leading amongst

others to diverting the child into a program where he/ she will be

assisted through life skills development or drug treatment program

etc.

– From 2003/04, diversion was managed on an intersectoral basis, as

an agreement between the various role-players in terms of the

Interim National Protocol for Children Awaiting Trial. Diversion has

now been legislatively implemented for children, in terms of the child

Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008).

– From the figures of children charged by SAPS from April to June

2010 (19 487), as compared to the numbers of children diverted for

April to June 2010 (3 321 as received from the NPA), 17% of

children charged in the first quarter, have been diverted.

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Successes and interventions regarding diversion

– This seems to be less than during the same period during 2009.

– Some of the reasons may be:-

Because of the impact of the implementation of the Child Justice Act,

2008, on 1st April 2010, which provides that children must be arrested

and charged as a measure of last resort; and managed as much as

possible outside of the criminal justice system; and

Therefore there has been a decrease in the numbers of children being

arrested and therefore potentially diverted. Furthermore, the analysis of the impact of the World Cup during June

2010, indicated a decrease in crime, also amongst children; and

There is usually a cyclical decrease of crimes, arrests and diversions

during the winter months.

Nevertheless, the Department is researching the reasons and doing a

statistical analysis in this regard.

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Challenges and interventions

• Challenges and interventions to address the specific challenges, mainly relate to the following resources and budget-constraints:

– Implementing Child Justice Act, 2008, mainly within existing reprioritised budgets;

– Justice Cluster received R30 million to implement Child Justice Act, 2008 during 2010/11, which will double for 2011/12:

R10 million for DoJCD, mainly for appointment of dedicated child justice court clerks; intersectoral meetings; training and awareness-raising;

R10 million for NPA, for appointment of additional dedicated prosecutors; and

R10 million for Legal Aid SA, for appointment of dedicated children’s attorneys.

– Have submitted request for additional funding as Unfunded Priority Project, to National Treasury for following 3 financial years.

– In meantime, in negotiations with donors to assist with relevant funding,

most however, can only assist with once-off funding for infrastructure,

training and awareness and cannot assist with budgets for additional

staff. Such possible funds only available from January 2011.

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Challenges and interventions regarding specific Departments’ implementation

(continued)

• DoJ&CD:– Long-outstanding cases of children awaiting trial in Regional Courts -

mainly in Limpopo and Northern Cape - have been referred to Case flow Management Committees led by Judiciary, to fast-track and prioritise.

– Preliminary Inquiries:

In order to align interpretation of the Act, a Workshop has been arranged with Magistracy to discuss uniform implementation and guidelines, for 29th October 2010;

This will be followed up with interaction with the NPA, DSD and Legal Aid SA.

– One Stop Child Justice Centres:

Because of budgetary constraints, the Departments are considering combining and designating such Centres, at DSD’s existing Child and Youth Care Facilities, where possible.

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Challenges and interventions (continued)

• SAPS:

– Although all policemen have not yet been trained, SAPS have

started training in 3 phases.

– Intersectoral committees follow up regularly and support police

with training initiatives where necessary.

– Transport of children:

This is a challenge as especially in rural areas, many hours

are spent on road between police cells, child and youth care

facilities and courts.

SAPS has recommended that a separate sub-task team be

established to discuss policy recommendations in this regard.

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Challenges (continued)

• Social Development:– Workshop to explain Diversion Accreditation Framework and

processes to Departments, NGO’s, service providers and Provinces, postponed from August to September 2010, because of industrial action.

– Lack of enough and after-hours availability of Probation Officers, remains a challenge, but is being constantly addressed by DSD, supported by Cluster.

• Health:– Requested to assist with evaluation of criminal capacity for children

from 10 to 14 years of age; however they have resource constraints.

– Government Notice makes provision that private practitioners can be requested to assist, but need to be paid expert witness’ fees.

– Additional Mental Health facilities for children, also being negotiated with Health.

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Progress and challenges (continued)

• Correctional Services:

– Few educational programs for children awaiting trial in prisons: joint

project being discussed between DCS, DSD and DoBE

– Major challenge: Lack of necessary budgets

– National DG’s ISCCJ-meeting is monitoring progress.

• Basic Education:

– In Eastern Cape, DoBE is being taken to court to ensure resourcing

and capacitating of Queenstown Reform School – matter is being

discussed at DG’s level to try and mitigate court action between

Departments.

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2. The National Policy Framework on Child Justice

Develop a National Policy Framework in order to -

• Ensure a uniform, co-ordinated and co-operative approach by all

government departments, organs of state and institutions dealing with

matters relating to child justice;

• Guide the implementation and administration of this Act;

• Promote co-operation and communication with the non-governmental

sector and civil society in order to ensure effective partnerships for the

strengthening of the child justice system; and

• Enhance service delivery as envisaged in this Act by the development of a

plan within available resources.

This has been done and the NPF is before Parliament

The DG’s ISCCJ must, in terms of sections 93 and 96 of the Child

Justice Act, 2008:

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3. Outline of the Child Justice NPF

The Framework covers the following:

– Background to the Child Justice Act;

– The Context and Vision of the Act;

– Introduction to the National Policy Framework;

– Objectives of the Policy Framework;

– Implementing the Child Justice Act

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Outline of Child Justice NPF (continued)

Priorities of the Child Justice Act are:

– Building capacity in the sector;

– Ensuring assessment of children;

– Preliminary Inquiries;

– Sentencing aspects;

– Provision of Diversion and Alternative Sentencing Services;

– Establishment of Child and Youth Care Centres;

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Priorities of the Act (continued)

– Establishment of One Stop Child Justice Centres;

– Resources and Budgets;

– Public Education and Communication; and

– Development of the necessary IT and IJS-systems to support

information management systems.

Outline of Child Justice NPF (continued)

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– Roles and Responsibilities of all government departments;

– Inter-sectoral co-ordination mechanisms;

– Managing the flow of children through the system;

– Monitoring and Evaluation and information management;

– The Legal Framework; and

– Conclusion

Outline of Child Justice NPF (continued)

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Summary

– We have done what was required within the time limits required in

terms of the Legislation:

This is also illustrated in the following slides

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4. In terms of Section 93(2): The Cabinet Member Responsible for the

Administration of Justice must -

– Adopt and table the policy framework in Parliament, within two (2) months after the commencement of this Act (i.e., by 31 May 2010): Progress -

• The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, requested the Speaker of Parliament and the Chair of the NCOP, to table the NPF, on the 31st May 2010.

– Publish the policy framework in the Gazette for public comment two (2) months after it has been tabled in Parliament; (i.e., by 1st August 2010): Progress -

• The Minister signed the Government Notice during July 2010;

• The NPF has been published in the Government Gazette, for comments by 1st October 2010;

• Comments received, will be processed there after.

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Section 93(2) (continued)

– Review the policy framework within three years after its

publication (by 1st August 2013);

– Review NPF at least once every five years there-after (i.e., by

1st August 2018 and every five years there-after); and

– Amend the Policy Framework when required, in which case the

amendments must be-

• Tabled in Parliament; and

• Published in the Gazette for public comment.

Progress: This will be done within the timeframes required.

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5. Conclusion

The JCPS Cluster has mustered together in dealing with Children in

conflict with the law in an improved manner and lives by the slogan

that by working together, we can all make a positive difference in the

children’s lives concerned.

Thank you