Child Justice Bill submission to Justice Portfolio Committee 5 th February 2008

Child Justice Bill Child Justice Bill submission to Justice Portfolio Committeesubmission to Justice Portfolio Committee55thth February 2008 February 2008

© CSIR 2006 www.csir.co.za

Recorded crimes:

• > 2 000 000 priority crimes reported in 2006/2007 • 721 129 contact crimes (includes murder, attempted murder,

hijacking, rape)- @ least 40% of rape, 21 000 recorded rapes of girls under 18

• 698 452 contact related and property related (includes theft out of/of motor vehicles, housebreaking, burglary residential and business)

• Robbery @ residential & business premises up from 14 561 in 2003 to 19 540 in 2007

Crime in South Africa 2006/2007


Unsafety• Children in SA are 6 x more likely than the world average to “succumb

to non-natural death”- Women are 5 x more likely- Men are 8 x more likely

• Leading causes are violence & transport• SA spent R41 billion on alcohol in 2006:

- 47% homicide victims test positive for alcohol at time of death (MRC study)

- 66% of people presenting in trauma units @ hospitals (MRC study)- > 50% rape victims are “high or drunk” @ the time of the incident (SAPS

Seminar))• 62% homicides committed with guns:

- 66 guns a day lost or stolen from legal to illegal pool, enabling an estimated 192 000 new violent crimes in the course of last year – or 528 per day (SAPS Annual Report)


WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE WHEN ITS FIXED?

• Do we want to live in a fortress? Armed response… electric fences….surveillance cameras…. guns…. boom gates ….exclusion….burglar bars ….security gates….alarms …bigger prisons…more police…..more and more prisoners for longer terms

• R46 billion on private security 2006; how much more next year?• 60 000 more police by 2010 (currently 1:365 ppr)• Growing demand for more and more punitive justice approach• Driven by fear and anger, sadness & loss, the need for retribution• Or… children play safely in the street of the leafy suburbs…. lawns

lead down to picket fences …. parents sit by open doors making supper to eat in the garden…. the sound of laughter and soccer balls, boys whooping for a goal … bicycles lean against the pavement…. picnics in the park …. women walk safely to work

• Changing behaviour and aspirations; we need to believe we can do this!





Four Guiding Principles for this Bill as an essential tool for crime prevention

• All children will be assessed

• All children can be diverted

• All children will have a preliminary enquiry

• No child can be subject to minimum sentencing


Preamble/Objectives of the Bill

The Bill is an instrument for prevention and reduction of crime and should be presented as such.

Crime prevention is not explicitly recognised as being an objective or outcome of the Child Justice Bill, in either the preamble or the body of the Bill and this is seen as an omission.

We submit that there should be an additional paragraph:• “…promotes a safe South Africa for all, by intervening to break the

cycle of crime and violence, preventing further criminal activity and victimisation through mechanisms that simultaneously reduce the pressure on the Criminal Justice System”


Breaking the Cycle of Violence

In intervening for the whole child and not just in response to

the behaviour of the child in conflict with the law,

the CJB provides an opportunity to address the problem

rather than to problematise the child.

In so doing it breaks the cycle of crime and violence and

initiates a new and more constructive cycle.


Increasing public faith in the Criminal Justice System

The CJS is overloaded and under capacitated and often contributes to victimisation, treating victims of crime in an insensitive and often harmful way. It also results in a lowering of public expectations, with a consequent lessening of the level of cooperation between communities and the CJS. The CJB, in diverting children in conflict with the law away from the CJS at the earliest possible point of intervention, reduces the pressure on the CJS to deal with such cases and provides an opportunity for effective alternative delivery mechanisms.


Diversion: reducing the likelihood of a lifetime of crime and violence

Overcrowding and lack of resources in prisons lead to victimisation ofoffenders while incarcerated in correctional facilities and present a massive obstacle to reintegration programmes. The incidence of male rape, of gang activity, bullying and corrupt practices in prisons is believed to be high and too little is done to reduce victimisation and entrench human rights in the prison environment. Such violations are believed to contribute to increased criminality, where time spent in prison is often referred to as time spent in a “university of

crime” (Dissel, 2001:5).


Training and evaluation of services

For most managers and service providers, the Bill will requiresignificant mind shift and training. We submit that a political head within the cluster be tasked with theresponsibility to ensure that all managers and services providers areenabled to fully implement all aspects of the Bill. All service providers should understand the role of the CJB in preventingcrime and in making South Africa a safer place for all. There should also be the expeditious development of training materialsand delivery of training, as well as monitoring and qualitative evaluationof such training.


Evaluating the CJB contribution to a safer SA

Credible evaluation of crime prevention mechanisms such as this Bill isessential to growing a climate in which we believe we can be and have asafe South Africa. We need to know we are getting there and doing the right things.Indicators should relate to both quantitative and qualitative data andshould be developed in consultation with communities and the full rangeof service providers, so that results are commonly understood andvalued. Evaluation reports should be presented to Parliament on at least anannual basis. They should be verified by external partners againstagreed measures.


Conclusion

Criminal justice strategies will not alone address the problem of crime and violence but it is vital that all criminal justice policies and strategies be scrutinised through and presented within a crime prevention or crime reduction lens, as these objectives are compelling and urgent and every opportunity to achieve them should be seized. Crime prevention opportunities should be highlighted, particularly where restorative justice approaches are promoted, to encourage essential support for policies that will contribute to increased safety for all South Africans in the future.

We need a vision of a safe South Africa We need a vision of a safe South Africa that is compelling & achievable – that is compelling & achievable – we must build it together, from hope, we must build it together, from hope, belief in ourselves & belief that with belief in ourselves & belief that with intervention, every child has a valuable intervention, every child has a valuable contribution to makecontribution to make

Documents

Child Justice Bill submission to Justice Portfolio Committee 5 th February 2008