Background and Overview Governance structures Key Priority areas of NPF Limitations Successes

1. 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

2. CONTENT OF PRESENTATION • Background and Overview • Governance structures • Key Priority areas of NPF • Limitations • Successes

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. KEY PRIORITY AREAS OF THE NPF • 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

9. 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

10. 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

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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 forthe 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

16. COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC EDUCATION • 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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.

20. Limitations • 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;

21. 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

22. What are the successes? • 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;