PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE FOR POLICE:

SECOND ANNUAL CONSOLIDATED REPORT ON THE

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHILD JUSTICE ACT, 2008 (ACT No 75 OF 2008)

PRESENTED BY THE INTERSECTORAL CHILD JUSTICE COMMITTEE FOR THE 2011/2012 FINANCIAL YEAR

1

• Background and Overview

• Governance structures

• Key Priority areas of NPF

• Limitations

• Successes

2

CONTENT OF PRESENTATION

INTRODUCTION

The presentation focuses on the second year of the intersectoral

implementation of the Act, viz. from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012

It reflects the collaborative efforts by the various stakeholders to

establish and maintain a child justice system in South Africa.

Where possible, it provides a comparative reflection of the child

justice performance thus far.

It highlights notable successes, identifies shortfalls and provides

corrective interventions, where possible.

However, it is not an all-inclusive account of the intersectoral

performance, but an overview based on the key indicators of the NPF 3

BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW OF THE CJA:

The Child Justice Act demands a collaborative approach by the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster Departments (JCPS) in realising the objectives of the Act.

It is an Act that seeks to bridge the gulf between the ‘paper’ Constitution and the ‘real experience’ of constitutional guarantees by children, e.g. It promotes the right of a child not to be detained with adult inmates, in instances where the imposition of an imprisonment sentence is inevitable.

It provides for special measures that promote corrective punishment to assist children in conflict with the law to break the cycle of crime so as to mature into law-abiding and productive citizens.

4

GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES

The Act promotes and affirms collaboration between the

implementing Departments and institutions through the

establishment of the Intersectoral Committees for Child Justice:

DG’s Intersectoral Committee (met 3 times)- s94 of the Act

DG: Justice and Constitutional Development, as the Chair;

National Director of Public Prosecutions;

National Commissioner of Safety and Security;

National Commissioner of Correctional Services;

DG: Social Development (Deputy Chair);

DG: Education;

DG: Health

DG: Women, Children and People with Disabilities;

National House of Traditional Leaders (still being co-opted)

National Operational Intersectoral Committee

Provincial Child Justice Fora 5

Building Capacity in the Sector Assessments of children Preliminary Inquiries Sentencing Provision of Diversion and Alternative Sentencing

Services Establishment of Child and Youth Care Centres Establishment of One Stop Child Justice Centres

(OSCJCs) Resources and Budgets Public Education and Communication Development of information management

systems 6

KEY PRIORITY AREAS OF THE NPF

7

TRAINING

Department 2010/11 2011/12 Overall total trained

DOJCDChild Justice Clerks: 190Intersectoral training: 306

395 496 891

SAPS:In-service training: 8 995

18 540 14 060

(excl no of members trained informal lecture sessions

32 600

Vulnerable Children: 5 065

DSD 854 1 281 2 135

LASA 1 855 1 700 3 555

8

TRAINING: Cont

Department 2010/11 2011/12 Overall total trained

NPA 349 214 563

DCSCorrectional Officers: 109Social workers: 03

146 111 257

ASSESSMENTS OF CHILDREN

The report indicates a decline in the number of children assessed from 32 500 to 18 334

The number of children charged has also decreased from 75 435 to 57 592

SAPS statistics and statistics from DSD do not tally, and no conclusive causes could be drawn from the NOC research report for such variance.

However, the Child Justice Information Management Task Team is in a process of initiating a project in two policing areas (viz. one in Mpumalanga and the other in Gauteng) to track down child justice cases and determine case flow gaps, e.g.

whether or not all children apprehended are charged whether or not all children charged are assessed

9

PRELIMINARY INQUIRIES

All children who are charged must undergo a preliminary inquiry

The number of preliminary inquiries increased from 14 471 to 17 822

The increase of 3 351 should be seen in a positive light as it enhances the prospect of children being diverted from the criminal justice system

10

11

SENTENCING

Type of Sentence 2010/11 2011/12

Community-based sentences 60 795

Restorative Justice sentences 137 405

Fines or alternative to fines 34 37

Correctional supervision 804 302

Children admitted to compulsory residence in Child and Youth Care Centres

110 353

Imprisonment 536 94

DIVERSION AND ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING

During 2011/2012 DSD completed the first phase of the accreditation process with a total of 345 service providers and programs being accredited. The breakdown is as follows: 55 service providers received full accreditation 38 service providers achieved candidacy status 191 programs received full accreditation 32 programs received candidacy status 20 programs were declined 9 service providers were decline

Summary of all types of diversions from April 2011 and March 2012

12

Section 41 Diversion

Preliminary Inquiries Diversion

Schedule 3 Diversion

Finalized Onerous Diversion

Diversion after Enrolment

1 577 2 608 108 368 3 946

CHILD AND YOUTH CARE CENTRES

Child and Youth Care Facilities are established in terms of section 191 of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005.

As at 31 March 2012, there were twenty eight (28) Secure Care facilities countrywide with a total bed capacity of 3 272 beds.

Two additional facilities are under construction.

13

ONE STOP CHILD JUSTICE CENTRES

The National Operational Intersectoral Committee for Child Justice (OP ISCCJ) and the Provincial Child Justice Fora (PCJF) went through the lengthy process of identifying the 2 most appropriate sites for the establishment of OSCJCs.

This process was undertaken with the guidance of the Minimum Requirements for the Establishment of One Stop Child Justice Centres.

The governance structures arrived at a unanimous decision to select the following 2 sites: North West: Matlosana Secure Care Facility, Klerksdorp,

and Eastern Cape: Khayalethemba Youth Care Centre, Buffalo

City. However, the process of establishment could not be finalized due to

a number of challenges, e.g. Process is fairly new; Delay in securing the ministerial written agreements. 14

RESOURCES AND BUDGETS

Many Departments/ institutions do not have a dedicated budget for the implementation of this Act.

In 2009/2010 start up funding was allocated to DoJCD for the implementation of the Act. This budget was distributed amongst the following Departments: DCS, DSD, LASA, NPA and DOJCD.

DOJCD, LASA and NPA continue to receive annual budget dedicated for the implementation of the Act. For the financial year 2011/12, a dedicated budget of R16 851 318 was received for the national implementation of the Act from the National Treasury.

SAPS is amongst Departments which had no budget specifically allocated for the implementation of this Act.

Resource provision still a major challenge for all stakeholders

15

DOJCD: Developed an intersectoral communication strategy for the ISC on Child Justice, in partnership with GCIS. This strategy included the presentation of 26 TV episodes of Jwayela i Justice on SABC 2, in collaboration with NPA, SAPS, & LASA. Average viewership of 1,127 760 was reached per episode.

LASA held sports events at schools in all provinces to educate children on rehabilitation

NPA held a radio campaign with SABC which included a focus on child justice where 34 million listeners were reached

SAPS and DBE safe schools programme linked 9000 schools to police stations and established 6 091 school safety committees - this is the main vehicle through which SAPS engages children to raise awareness on child justice amongst other topics

16

COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC EDUCATION

Various Departments participated in information sessions hosted by DOJCD with international delegations from: Liberia, Mozambique, Nepal, Vietnam, Uganda, Iran, Sudan, and Zambia

17

COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC EDUCATION

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The Child Justice information management team

was established to address challenges in respect of

intersectoral availability of information

The team is developing systems that will allow

collection of data across departments from

operational systems . It will also ensure the use of

common definitions to improve comparability and

accessibility of information

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The SAPS is addressing the re-designing of

management information systems in order to be

able to capture:

Other forms of attendance of children, e.g.

through summons, notices; etc.

Data regarding children under 10 who cannot

feature on the Crime Administration System;

Notification of probation officers electronically.

Lack of adequate capacity to implement the Act. DOJCD has

undertaken to conduct a provision to provision analysis of the Act

to determine the resource capacity required for the effective

implementation of the Act;

The lack of dedicated budget allocations by the majority

implementing stakeholders;

The recent NGO budget cuts that have led to the withdrawal of

requisite services from our courts;

The need to investigate trends in respect of reduction in children

charged and assessed;

20

Limitations

The lack of adequate budget to establish and continually run One Stop Child

Justice Centres, e.g. The Khayalethemba Youth Care Centre requires a budget

of R28million

The need for an Integrated Information management system to put an end to

statistical variances and inability to make properly informed data analysis;

Ongoing need for capacity building (need for a skills audit)

Explaining the trends in respect of reduction in children charged and assessed

21

Limitations

The gradual rise in the number of Preliminary inquiries indicates a

growing compliance with the Act. It also ought to be seen as an

element that enhances the prospect of children being diverted

from the criminal justice system to a system that promotes their

constitutional right to be treated in a manner that takes account of

their age.

Increase in the imposition of non-custodial sentences symbolizes a

change towards the establishment of a child justice system, i.e.

The prospects of breaking the cycle of crime amongst children are

improving;

22

What are the successes?

    

23

THANK YOU