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LALI PAPIASHVILI
SOME ISSUES OF JUVENILE JUSTICE
The number of children aged under 18
held in detention in all over the world grew
dramatically. Increases took place in both the
remand and sentenced population. According
to UNICEF researches, over 1 million children
are deprived of their liberty by law enforcement
officials. At the same time an increasing
number of juveniles are being prosecuted often
for non-violent offences.
Children in detention often suffer violations
of their basic rights – including no education
and lack of basic medical care. Frequently,
the conditions under which they live
are deplorable and inhumane – no heat, inadequate
food, insufficient beds, poor sanitation
facilities and no exercise, cruel and inhuman
disciplinary measures, insufficient
sleeping space and living quarters, poor or
non existent educational and vocational training
opportunities, lack of information and little
or no contact with the outside world and etc.
Some are kept in solitary confinement for long
periods. Physical abuse is common. In many
cases, even the most fundamental principles
of due process are violated. Parents are commonly
denied right to visit and are often not
informed of a child’s whereabouts.
It is clear that institutionalization is an extremely
painful process for young offenders.
The fact that they have been arrested and
placed in a prison or a juvenile institution stigmatizes
them for life, a stigma that is memorialized
in official identity documents and from
which they cannot escape as they seek employment
and a normal life in the community.
Moreover it has repeatedly demonstrated the
ineffectiveness of both punishment and incarceration.
The history of criminal and juvenile justice
and the high reconviction rates for young
people leaving prison establishment demonstrate
the failure of traditional approaches to
crime control based on punishment.
Instead of depriving children of liberty, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child urges
States to “seek to promote measures for dealing
with such children without resorting to judicial
proceedings” (Article 40). Entry into the
formal justice system can be traumatic and can
stigmatize an adolescent. It should therefore
be avoided whenever the matter can be adequately
dealt with in a less formal way. Diversion
can take the form of a warning that future
offences will have more serious consequences,
voluntary acceptance of some form
of supervision or counselling, a commitment
to attend school or to avoid persons or places
associated with the offence, community service,
or restitution to or reconciliation with the
victim. The alternative to formal adjudication
must be compatible with the rights of the child,
which precludes measures such as corporal
punishment. Therefore, deprivation of personal
liberty shall not be imposed unless the juvenile
is adjudicated of a serious act involving
violence against another person or of persistence
in committing other serious offences
and unless there is no other appropriate response;
The well-being of juvenile should be
the guiding factor in the consideration of her
his case.
Therefore there is a more fundamental
need to ensure that the numbers of youngsters
in custody are kept to an absolute minimum.
And in order to achieve this goal attention
should be paid to the prevention of juvenile
delinquency which requires efforts on the
part of the entire society to ensure the harmonious
development of adolescents, with
respect for and promotion of their personality
from early childhood. Since there is a high
correlation between neglect and exposure to
violence during childhood and involvement in
crime, society and government are responsible
according to Riyadh Guidelines to assist
the family in providing care and protection and
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