Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

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Postponements and finalisation of cases"When preventive detention is ... used, juvenile courtsand investigative bodies shall give the highest priorityto the most expeditious processing of such cases toensure the shortest possible duration of detention. "(UN RULES 1 7)The length of time it takes tofinalise cases accounts forthe sometimes extremely loneperiods children spend indetention before sentencing.At Pietersburg, cases had.been postponed severaltimes. One had beenpostponed four times, twofive times. One had taken 10months to be finalised. Oneof the boys whose elderlygrandmother had appeared on the first day afterhaving being informed of his arrest, said she couldnot keep up with the number of times the case waspostponed. She was absent on one occasion andarrested and kept in custody for a whole day forfailing to ensure that the boy appeared in court. Afterthis he was remanded in custody and transferred toPietersburg where nobody can visit him. At the timeof the research, the case had been pending over aperiod of eight months.In the cases of the Pietersburg unsentenced children,the period of postponement was far in excess of thefourteen days provided in theamending legislation. Incontrast, it was noted that, inrespect of the girls, the processwas "amazingly swift".At St Albans, one of the boyshad been an awaiting trialprisoner for seven months;another had been awaiting .finalisation of his case for ninemonths.Sentences"Deprivation of the liberty of a juvenile should be adisposition of last resort and for the minimumnecessary period and should be limited toexceptional cases. " (UN RULES 2)CHILDREN IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
are economic as opposed to 19% aggressive. In theNorthern Cape, 28% of crimes are sex crimes, and inthe Eastern Cape, there are a high number of crimesrelated to narcotics. 23.4% of the total of children sen-fenced are in the Gauteng province. A disproportionatenumber of the offenders are found in the Western andNorthern Cape,Offences committed ranged from minor economiccrimes to rape, armed robbery and murder. Figure 1(Introduction) demonstrates that the greater number ofcrimes commmitted by children under the age of 18are economic (48%) rather than aggressive crimes (32%)and sex crimes (15%), and that this finding is fairlyconsistent across provinces. Significant divergencesmay be found in Mpumlanga, where 61 % of crimesFIGURE 6In the interviews, in the sample obtained during theperiod ot research, children who had committed murderreceived sentences ranging from 5 years to 17years. Children who had been found guilty of rapehad received sentences ranging from 3 to 1 years.Armed robbery sentences were generally 8 to 10years. Being in possession of an unlicensed firearmattracted sentences between 18 months (with halfsuspended) to 2 years. Assault with intent to dogrievous bodily harm, however attracted sentences of5, 6 and 9 months, although one child was sentencedto 3 years in Umtata.In relation to this, some sentences handed downfor economic crimes seemed disproportionatelyhigh. Theft of cell phones, for example, attractedsentences of three years in a number of cases.Vehicle thefts, likewise attracted sentences of threeto four years. Dealing in dagga was given a two yearsentence, while a boy cortviQted of rape was givenone year's sentence. One boy was given a two yearsentence for 'borrowing a motor vehicle'. He said hewas helping.a friend to ferry commuters from Umtatato Ngobezi and didn't know they were using the carwithout permission. Another was sentenced to oneyear's imprisonment for stealing fishing rods worthR2500, which he sold for R200. Shoplifting attractedsentences of about one year to eighteen months.
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• ContentsINTRODUCTION 1ACKNOWLED
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almost certainly because they tear
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Figure 2 gives a breakdown of child
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THANKS ARE DUE TO:The children and
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.Ekuseni Youth CentreThe Ekuseni Yo
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1• Definition of Children andJuve
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age of 18 with their own age groups
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Dedicated facilities for JuvenilesT
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At the Pollsmoor Admission Centre,
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Separation of sentenced and unsente
Page 23: Beds and bedding"Every juvenile sho
Page 26: At Pietersburg, the researcher was
Page 29 and 30: are virtually unoccupied for long p
Page 31 and 32: At Rustenburg, a qualified, nurse i
Page 33 and 34: At Pretoria Central, a new prison,
Page 35 and 36: offers them a 'good opportunity of
Page 37: The South African Constitution ensh
Page 40 and 41: Leeuwkop were extremely demotivated
Page 42 and 43: trial- are the responsibility of th
Page 44: Where programmes are jn placeIn som
Page 47: At Westville Youth Centre, there is
Page 50 and 51: VIOLENCE IN PRISONS
Page 52 and 53: AssaultAs part of their mission sta
Page 54 and 55: of 24, sometimes without even a tel
Page 56 and 57: "Personnel should be qualified and
Page 58 and 59: the night at 3pm. In some instituti
Page 60 and 61: the ages of 15 and 17. In an emerge
Page 62 and 63: Generally, serious problems are ref
Page 64 and 65: Alternatively, if a charge is to be
Page 66 and 67: One of the consistent patterns that
Page 68 and 69: Often children say that they are, n
Page 70 and 71: the names of their lawyers. Three o
Page 72 and 73: Bail"Every child has the right not
Page 76 and 77: Figure 7 shows the length of senten
Page 78 and 79: How the Children are Cared For8. An
Page 80: Trial40. Parents or guardians shoul
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Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

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