Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

the names of their lawyers. Three of the other children •interviewed, however, were able to name their lawyers.At Westville, on the. other hand, all five of the girlchildren had been legally represented in cases thatranged from murder to shoplifting, and an interpreterwas provided in three out of the five cases. AtThohoyandou Women's Prison, neither of the twounsentenced girls were represented. In one instance,the charges had been laid against her by her motherfor abandoning her child.Children's experiences before sentencing"Juveniles who are detained under arrest or awaitingtrial... are presumed innocent and shall be treated assuch. Detention before trial shall be avoided to the extentpossible and limited to exceptional circumstances.Therefore, all efforts shall be made to apply alternativemeasures. When preventive detention is neverthelessused, juvenile courts and investigative bodies shall giveDaily activity schedule for staff at Pietermaritzburg Prison.At Johannesburg Medium A, two of the unsentencedboys-interviewed were being represented by thepublic defender, two had no representation and onehas asked for representation but "no-one'had seenhim yet". The other three toid the court that theywould speak for themselves.At Pretoria Central Medium A, however, eight of thefifteen children interviewed said they had not beenadvised of their right to see a lawyer. At this prison,only one juvenile had been represented by the publicdefender, and three of the older boys had beendefended, one of them only during sentencing.Three of the children had been offered lawyers andhad refused. One thought that if he was represented,he would receive a much longer sentence.At Pietermaritzburg, two of the children wereunrepresented, and three had received legal aidassistance. Two of these said they did not knowthe highest priority to the most expeditious processingof such cases to ensure the shortest possibleduration of detention...It is widely recognised that the pre-trial detention ofchildren is undesirable.'Amongst the reasons for this,according to the South African Law CommissionJuvenile Justice Issue Paper, are the "adverse resultsof institutionalisation, as shown internationally bycriminological research, and possible further introductionto delinquency, as well as the undesirabilityof separation of children from their families, whichinhibits re-integration of the child into society."ISThe Constitution, which mirrors the provisions foundin international instruments, says that the detention ofchildren should be used as a matter of last resortonly, and for the shortest appropriate period of time.An additional point made in the Constitution is thatthe child should be "treated in a manner and kept inconditions, that take account of the child's age".14 See too Section 28 (1) g of the SA Constitution.15 South African Law Commission Issue Paper No 9 on Juvenile Justice, page 27.CHILDREN IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM