“No civilized society, regards children as accountable for their actions to the same extent as adults”.1 In the absence of a justice system applicable exclusively to children in conflict with the law in South Africa, children are subjected to the same rigours of the criminal law applicable to adults in South Africa. “States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child's respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child's age and the desirability of promoting the child's reintegration and the child's assuming a constructive role in society”.2 As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, South Africa has a duty to ensure that the children in conflict with the law are treated in a manner that gives effect to the protectionary ideals espoused in the Convention. In July 2000, the South African Law Commission [Project 106] released the Child Justice Bill3, together with its Report on Juvenile Justice. Because the child justice system at present is not governed by legislation, uncertainty and inconsistency are constant dangers. We need legislation to ensure that all children in conflict with the law are dealt with consistently, fairly and appropriately. The question that needs to be answered in this treatise, is whether the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008, which comes into effect on 01 April 2010, is a legislative framework that incorporates due process rights together with the rights of children who is alleged to have committed an offence, to be protected and treated in a manner appropriate to their age.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:10175 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | McGregor, Melissa |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Law |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, LLM |
| Format | iv, 57 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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