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DSD BRIEFING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHILD JUSTICE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGISLATIONS

DSD BRIEFING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHILD JUSTICE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGISLATIONS. 16 SEPTEMBER 2009 Ms Conny Nxumalo-Chief Director. OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION. Child Justice Act Introduction Supporting legislation Human resources to implement the legislation

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DSD BRIEFING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHILD JUSTICE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGISLATIONS

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  1. DSD BRIEFING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHILD JUSTICE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGISLATIONS 16 SEPTEMBER 2009 Ms Conny Nxumalo-Chief Director

  2. OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION • Child Justice Act • Introduction • Supporting legislation • Human resources to implement the legislation • Secure care centers • Initiatives to support implementation of the CJA Domestic Violence Act • Introduction • Role of DSD in implementing the Act • Shelters and One Stop Centers in Implementing the Act • DSD guidelines on Services related to Domestic Violence • Other initiatives Conclusion

  3. Crime Investigation Arrest Reporting Trial Sentence Enforce Reception, assessment & referral Diversion Detention Victim support Community Alt sentencing Substance abuse DSD Services Secure Care Social crime Prev Reintegration Re-unification Child protection Probation services Intermediary Termination of Sentence 3

  4. INTRODUCTION • The Child Justice Act (CJA) • The Act advocates for important changes to the manner in which children in conflict with the law are managed and dealt with within the criminal justice system. • Since the conceptualization of the legislation (CJA) the Department of Social Development strived to align all its initiatives on children in conflict with the law to the requirements of the Act. • The Department of Social Development is therefore responsible for the execution of the following functions stipulated by various pieces of legislations including the CJA.

  5. INTRODUCTION CONT… • Provision of assessments for all arrested children by probation officers -within 48hrs • Provision and funding of diversion services • Provision of alternatives for children awaiting trial • Home based supervision programmes • Provision of residential care facilities (Secure Care Facilities) • Provision of pre-trial and pre-sentence reports • Alternative sentencing options • Prevention services and programmes to strengthen existing capacity and opportunities for children • Early intervention services to prevent children from getting deeper into the Criminal Justice System

  6. SUPPORTING LEGISLATION • The Department provides services to children in conflict with the law based on legislative mandates such as the following: • PROBATION SERVICES ACT 116 of 1991 AS AMENDED: • Section 4B states that any arrested child who has not been released shall be assessed by a probation officer as soon as reasonably possible, but before his orher first appearance in court in terms of section 50( l) (c) of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977): • Provides that if the child has not yet been assessed when brought before the court, the court may authorizes the extension of the period within which the assessment must take place by periods not exceeding seven days at a time following his or her first court appearance.” • Section 4A refers to appointment of assistant probation officers and their duties • CHILDREN’S ACT 38 OF 2005 AS AMENDED: • Chapter 8: section 143 (1) (a-b): provision of prevention programme • Sub section( 2)(a-b): early intervention programmes • Chapter 13: refers to establishment of Residential Care Facilities and programmes.

  7. HUMAN RESOURCES • PROBATION OFFICERS • The Department has approximately 484 probation officers who are currently servicing 388 magisterial courts, 88 high courts and 299 periodical courts. • These numbers exclude Social Workers who perform probation services as part of their generic work and not as a specialty. • National and provincial initiatives by the Department to recruit students to study Social Work and Auxiliary Social Work is underway. ASSISTANT PROBATION OFFICERS • 360 APO’s have been appointed to provide services to children in conflict with the law • A volunteer assistant probation officer' programme has been initiated in collaboration with Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the National Youth Service Programme to recruit and train 198young people as Assistant Probation Officers. Even though the project started with 198 learners 28 of them left the project for employment opportunities elsewhere • These young people are assisting probation officers in providing services to children in conflict with the law, especially with regard to the implementation of home-based supervision and family finding. • To date 150 VAPO’s have been permanently appointed as Assistant Probation Officers, and 19 were appointed in other fields within the department .

  8. NUMBER OF PERSONNEL PER PROVINCE

  9. Secure care centres • To date there are 31 fully functioning residential care facilities accommodating children awaiting trial, five newly built and awaiting operationalization and eighteen (19) new ones are planned. • The bed capacity of all secure care facilities is 2287,and currently there are 1117 children admitted at these facilities • The bed space available is 1127 • In DCS facilities there are 600 children monthly on average awaiting trial due to seriousness of their offences

  10. SECURE CARE CENTRES STATISTICS AS ON THE 10th SEPTEMBER 2009

  11. INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION • Monitoring: Database and tracking of children in secure care facilities (INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM) • The department has utilised its allocation of funds from IJS project to develop and purchase equipment for an Information Management system for secure care data, to make it possible for regional, provincial and national offices to have immediate access to the database of children in secure care and places of safety. • Child and Youth Care Application (CYCA) and Institute Administrative System (IAS) is a centralized electronic/ computerized application systems used in residential care facilities to do among the others the following: • Management of Children awaiting trial: Registers new admissions, under 18 with all their particulars and parental particulars, assets, injuries, allergies, illnesses, etc. • Statistics: on a daily basis the system generates all data elements. • Programmes: the programme in which the child is engaged, the facilitators, attendance dates and time and progress/outcomes of the programme. • Grievances and actions taken to address those grievances. • Court dates and time spent in the facility. • The system will track the movement of children within the facilities.

  12. INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT cont… • DIVERSION PROGRAMMES • Social Development as mandated by the Probation Services Act as amended provides diversion programmes for children in conflict with the law. • The Department through its Provincial Departments allocates funding to all civil society organizations rendering diversion programmes to children at risk and in conflict with the law. • Minimum norms and standards on diversion developed • Audit of all diversion services/programmes conducted and a national resource directory developed • As per requirement of the CJA the Department has developed an electronic diversion register system • During the 2008/09 financial year the Department assessed 43 939 children, diverted23 782 and placed 7 029 under Home Based Supervision. • For this year from April to June 2009, 11 522children have been assessed, 6 313 divertedand 1 749 placed under Home Based Supervision. NATIONAL POLICY FRAMEWORK • Section 56 of the CJA 75 of 2008 requires the Department to create a policy framework to develop the capacity within all levels of govt. and non govt. sector to establish, maintain and develop programmes for diversion, establish and maintain a system for accreditation of programmes for diversion and diversion service providers and also to ensure the availability of resources to implement diversion programmes • The Department has embarked on the process of developing the policy framework for diversion as set out in the Act.

  13. INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT cont… • CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRAINING • Capacity building of probation officers on restorative justice, diversion and assessment procedure is offered on an ongoing basis to probation officers. In the previous financial year trainings on restorative justice, diversion norms and standards, sexual offenders programme, assessment procedures and report writing techniques were conducted in all the nine provinces. A total number of 618 practitioners were capacitated and 308 APO’s involved in a re-orientation and training process in partnership with the SACSSP. PARTNERSHIP WITH UNICEF TO TRAIN OUR PERSONNEL • In preparation of the requirements of the CJA, Social Development in partnership with UNICEF have embarked on a process of developing probation practice guidelines. • A draft document on the practice guidelines has been finalized and a first draft of a training manual also developed. • Training of master trainers will be conducted as from the last week of October until the first week of December 2009, thereafter training of all probation practitioners will commence from February to end of March 2010.

  14. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT IMPLEMENTATION

  15. INTRODUCTION • The Domestic Violence Act (116 of 1998) • The Act provides amongst others for a protection order to be issued by court for victims of domestic violence and for shelters to be established and to provide maximum protection and safety for victims. The Act recognises that: • Domestic violence is a serious social ill • There is a high incidence of domestic violence within South African society • Victims of domestic violence are among the most vulnerable members of society • Domestic violence takes on many forms • Acts of domestic violence may be committed in a wide range of domestic relationships • The remedies previously available to the victims of domestic violence have proved to be ineffective. • Affords the victims of domestic violence the maximum protection from domestic abuse that the law can provide • Introduces measures which seek to ensure that the relevant organs of state give full effect to the provisions of this Act. • Ensures that the State is committed to the elimination of domestic violence.

  16. ROLE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT • The Department is tasked with the responsibility of monitoring and evaluating the impact of the VEP with regard to crime prevention and meeting the needs of victims of crime and violence. • DSD as lead department facilitates the establishment and management of safe and secured shelters in South Africa. • With the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act (Act No 116 of 1998), lack of shelters for victims of domestic violence was identified as a major constraint towards the effective implementation of the Act. • This constraint acted as catalyst for the department to develop the strategy for shelters for victims of Domestic Violence which was finalised in June 2003 and launched in September 2003.The Strategy on Shelters was reviewed in August 2008 and approved in August 2009.

  17. SHELTERS FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE • Currently 96 shelters exists throughout SA as reflected in the database of the provincial offices of the department. • The number of shelters per province are as follows: • Western Cape Province =15 • Eastern Cape Province =11 • Gauteng Province =27 • Free State Province =10 • Northern Cape Province = 5 • Limpopo Province = 9 • Mpumalanga Province = 3 • Kwa-Zulu Natal Province =13 • North West Province = 3 TOTAL =96 • Efforts are still made by the department to continue facilitating the establishment of shelters in provinces especially Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga and the Free State. These shelters provide accommodation for a period up to six months and clear exist plan directs further interventions. The department is also exploring the issue of transitional houses with the department of human settlement for reintegration back into the community .

  18. ONE STOP CENTRES • Currently 7 one stop centres exist throughout SA as reflected in the database of the provincial offices of the department. • The number of one stop centres per province are as follows: • Western Cape Province = 2 • Gauteng = 1 • Eastern Cape Province = 1 • Northern Cape Province = 1 • Mpumalanga Province = 1 North West Province = 1 ( temporary structure) TOTAL = 7 • Efforts are still made by the department in partnership with UNODC through EU support and Japan Embassy funding to continue facilitating the establishment of one stop centres in provinces especially Limpopo, Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Free State.

  19. DSD DRAFT GUIDELINES ON SERVICES RELATED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE • DSD also embarked on the development of DSD Draft Guidelines on Services to Victims of Domestic Violence in August 2008. • Rationale for the guidelines: • To provide a comprehensive, multifaceted and holistic DSD Draft Guidelines on Services to Victims of Domestic Violence. • To assist social service professionals to deliver an efficient and effective service to victims of domestic violence. • Bridge the gap in policy and practices aimed at dealing with violence against women and children. • Minimize myths and facts of domestic violence. • Outlines interventions required by service providers and government departments for dealing with violence against women.

  20. OTHER INITIATIVES • Promotion and implementation of perpetrator’s programme through the strategy of engagement of men and boys in prevention of gender based violence • Participation in national campaigns such as 16 days of activism on no violence against women and children and 365 days plan of action • Awareness raising on victim’s rights through victim’s rights week( 14-18 sept )

  21. CHALLENGES • Lack of M&E mechanism to monitor implementation and managing information • Marketing and communication strategy for services • High staff turn over in provinces to implement the policies and legislation in the dept • Registration of shelters and accreditations of service providers and programmes • Budgetary constraints to strengthen services within the child justice sector

  22. Proposals to deal with challenges • Started the process of developing generic indicators within the sector • Busy with communication strategy supported by national treasury • Commissioned a feasibility study for the development of VEP legislation to address the challenges outlined • Continuously engaging treasury to allocate additional funds through sector bids and use of donor funding

  23. CONCLUSION • The Department has already done substantial work with regard to its readiness for the implementation of the Child Justice completed (costing of the Act, appointment of probation officers, RAR’s ,diversion programmes, Home based supervision and developed national action plan on the areas of responsibility for DSD) • The implementation of the Domestic Violence Act revealed that people are aware of services and reporting cases to SAPS and DSD office based on provincial reports • Feasibility study for the legislation on VEP s to be finalized

  24. THANK YOU HA KHENSA

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