Director-General: National Department of Justice and Constitutional Development; and

Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development: Consolidated progress report on

implementation of Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008):

Inter-sectoral Child Justice Steering Committee (ISCCJ)

Director-General: National Department of Justice and Constitutional Development;

andChair of the National ISCCJ:

22 June 2011

PART 1: OVERVIEW OF THE ANNUAL REPORT

PART 1 OF THE PRESENTATION: KEY FOCUS AREAS

• Background and overview;

• Governance structures;

• Appreciation.

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Background and Overview:

• The Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008) came into effect on 1 April 2010.

• The first annual report by the Intersectoral Committee on Child Justice (ISCCJ) will be tabled in Parliament shortly in terms of section 96(3) of the Act.

• The period now being reported upon is for the first year of implementation, viz. from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011.

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Background and overview of the Child Justice Act:

• The report is a consolidated account of collaborative efforts by the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster Departments in realising the objectives of the Act.

• It relates to the progressive work done by the integrated governance structures to achieve the effective and cost-efficient implementation of the Act throughout the country.

• The Act puts in place a criminal justice system which caters for the needs of children in conflict with the law with special attention to their developmental needs.

• It provides for special measures for children in conflict with the law to break the cycle of crime so as to mature into law-abiding and productive citizens.

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Background and overview, continued:

• The report details the successful development of legislative supporting documentation that was approved, published and taken through the implementation process throughout the country.

• It notes the successful finalisation of the National Policy Framework.

• It highlights a remarkable decline in the number of children awaiting trial in correctional facilities.

• It further outlines the challenges and steps to be taken

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Governance Structures: Intersectoral Committee for Child Justice

The Act promotes and affirms collaboration between the implementing Departments and institutions through the establishment of the Directors-General Intersectoral Committee for Child Justice, which is represented by:

• Director-General: Justice and Constitutional Development, as the Chairperson of the Committee;• National Director of Public Prosecutions;• National Commissioner of the South African Police Service;• National Commissioner of Correctional Services;• Director-General: Social Development, who has been elected as the deputy Chair of the Committee;• Director-General: Education; and • Director-General: Health.

Governance Structures: National Operational Intersectoral Committee for Child Justice

• The DG’s Intersectoral Committee mandated the establishment of the National Operational Intersectoral Committee to manage the operational issues relating to the implementation of the Act and its National Policy Framework.

• This Committee makes high-level operational decisions about the implementation process and submits recommendations to the DG’s Intersectoral Committee, where necessary.

• It is further tasked to monitor progress and achievements made by the implementing Departments and institutions during the execution process.

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Governance Structures: Provincial Child Justice Fora

• To ensure the intersectoral approach in the implementation process at regional and local level, the 9 Provincial Child Justice Fora were established.

• The primary role of these Fora is to monitor the implementation of the Act at provincial and local levels.

• Each Forum reports directly to the National Operational Intersectoral Committee for Child Justice.

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Appreciation:

• A detailed report on the progressive work done by these governance structures will follow next in Part 2 of this presentation.

• At this stage, please allow me to extend my deep gratitude to the

Directors-General Intersectoral Committee for the strategic guidance they stalwartly gave to make the implementation process in this first year so astoundingly productive.

• My appreciation further goes to the various implementing departments, the Magistracy, Legal Aid SA and the Civil Society Organisations for their outstanding contributions in making child justice real in South Africa.

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PART 2: PROGRESS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHILD JUSTICE ACT, 2008

Part 2: Key Focus Areas of the Report

• Objects of the Child Justice Act, 2008;

• Achievements in the implementation of the

National Policy Framework;

• Legislative documentation;

• Implementation challenges

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Objects of the Child Justice Act, 2008:

• Establish a criminal justice system for children in accordance with the values underpinning our Constitution and our international obligations;

• Expand and entrench the principles of restorative justice while ensuring children’s responsibility and accountability for crimes committed;

• Increased emphasis on the effective rehabilitation and reintegration of children in order to minimise the potential for re-offending;

• Balance the interests of children and those of society, with due regard to the rights of victims;

• Raise the minimum age of criminal capacity for children from the age of 7 years to 10 years;

• Provide for special processes or procedures for securing attendance at court of, the release or detention and placement of children;

• Provide for the diversion of matters involving children;

• Provide for the adjudication of matters involving children

who are not diverted; and

• Provide for a wide range of appropriate sentencing options,

specifically suited to the needs of children.

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Objects of the Child Justice Act, 2008: Continued

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The National Policy Framework

The Act requires the drafting of the National Policy Framework (NPF) to:-

• Ensure the uniform, coordinated and cooperative approach by all government

Departments, organs of state and institutions dealing with matters relating to

child justice;

• Guide the implementation and administration of the Act;

• Promote co-operation and communication with the non-governmental sector

and civil society in order to ensure effective partnerships for the strengthening

of the child justice system; and

• Enhance service delivery as envisaged in the Act through the development of a

plan within available resources.

1. Building capacity in the sector;

2. Ensuring assessment of children;

3. Preliminary Inquiries;

4. Sentencing;

5. Provision of Diversion and Alternative Sentencing Services;

6. Establishment of Child and Youth Care Centres (also referred to as Secure Care facilities);

7. Establishment of One-Stop Child Justice Centres;

8. Resources and Budgets;

9. Public Education and Communication; and

10. Development of Necessary IT and IJS-Systems to Support Information Management Systems

The 10 Key Priorities of the NPF

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NPF: Building Capacity in the Sector

Department/ Institution Human Resources No. of personnel

DoJ&CD Child Justice Court Clerks 111

DBE Existing staff

NPA Dedicated Prosecutors NPA to provide numbers of dedicated prosecutors

DCS Existing staff

DSD Probation Officers 484

Assistant Probation Officers 370

SAPS Existing staff

Legal Aid SA Legal Aid Attorneys 1 452 – practitioners – all courts are child justice courts and all practitioners deal with matters relating to children; in addition in the dedicated courts are staffed with dedicated child practitioners.

Appointment of Dedicated Resources, continued

• In most courts, dedicated Magistrates are appointed by the Head of the Office to deal specifically with child justice cases

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NPF: Building Capacity in the Sector: Continued

Department/ Organisation

Capacity of Persons trained Province of training Total trained

SAPS Police officials All provinces 15 891

DSD Probation Officers and Assistant Probation Officers

All provinces 854

NPA Prosecutors All provinces 698

Legal Aid SA Senior Practitioners, admitted legal practitioners and candidate attorneys at all Justice Centres

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1174

Magistracy/ Judiciary Magistrates Decentralised and ad hoc training in all 9 provinces

567

DoJ&CD Clerks of the Court Decentralised: in all 9 provinces

395

DCS Correctional officials, unit managers, social workers, heads of correctional centres

All provinces 146

DBE Officials from the Department, principals, educators, reform school principals and provincial co-ordinators of reform schools

All provinces 53

Total Trained 19 842

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• Establishment of dedicated infrastructure:

NPF: Building Capacity in the Sector: Continued

Department/ Institution Infrastructure Number

DoJ&CD Child Justice Courts All courts

One Stop Child Justice Centres 2

DSD Child and Youth Care Centres 28 with total bed capacity of 3272

3 completed and will be operational in the new financial year.

DOH Establishments designated as psychiatric hospitals and care andrehabilitation centres

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15Establishments designated to admit state patients and mentally ill

DBE Reform Schools 5

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NPF: Ensuring assessment of children

• The Department of Social Development reported that a total of 32 494

children were assessed during the period 1 April 2010 until 31

March 2011.

• The Department of Social Development has developed a plan for the

progressive appointment of such probation officers.

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NPF: Preliminary Inquiries

• A preliminary inquiry is an informal pre-trial procedure which is inquisitorial in nature. It may be conducted in a court or any other suitable place.

• It is regarded as a child’s first appearance before court or any other suitable place.

• It must be held in respect of every child who is alleged to have committed an offence, except where the:-

Matter has been diverted by a prosecutor;

Child is under the age of 10 years; or

Matter has been withdrawn.

• The DoJ&CD has reported that a total of 14 471 children appeared before preliminary inquiries during the year under review.

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NPF: Sentencing Options

• Community-based sentences;• Restorative justice sentences;• Fines or alternatives to fines;• Correctional supervision;• Postponement or suspension of passing of sentence;• Compulsory residence in a child and youth care centre; and• Imprisonment as a measure of last resort and only for theshortest appropriate period of time.

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NPF: Sentencing Options: Continued

Department Type of Sentence Period Total number

DBE Compulsory residence in a child & youth care centre (Reform School)

April 10 to March 11 110

DoJ&CD Restorative justice Dec 10 to March ‘11 137

Fines or alternatives to fines

Dec 10 to March 11 34

DCS Correctional supervision April 10 to March 11 804

Imprisonment April 10 to March 11 536

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NPF: Diversions

• One of the primary objects of the Act is to divert children in conflict with the law away from the formal criminal justice system, where appropriate.

• From the NPA statistical report, a total of 15,588 children were diverted during the period April 2010 to March 2011.

• However, during the same period April 2009 to March 2010, a total of 16 173 children were diverted.

• A comparative analysis of the two periods shows a decrease of 3%.

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NPF: Establishment of Child and Youth Care Centres

• In terms of section 29 of the Act, children not released into the care of their parents or care-givers, may be placed in Child and Youth Care Facilities managed by the Department of Social Development.

• Section 76 of the Act also provides for the sentencing of children to compulsory residence in a Child and Youth Care Facility. The Department of Social Development plans to designate at least, one wing in one Centre per province for sentenced children.

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• Total number of Child and Youth Care Facilities, plus their bed space capacity (Next slide):• Monthly admissions and releases during the period April to October 2010:

•(Next slide)Monthly Admissions:

1 April to 31 October 2010

Average per month 3599

Releases 3470

Overall Admission 8879

Source: DSD MIS

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PROVINCE NAME OF THE FACILITY AND LOCATION BED CAPACITY

EASTERN CAPEEnkuselweni Secure Care Centre in PE 60John X Merriman in East London 50Sikhuselekile SC in UMthata 50

FREE STATEBloemfontein Secure Care 50Matete Matches Secure Care Centre in Kroonstad 40

GAUTENGMogale City Youth Centre 450Walter Sisulu Child and Youth Care Centre in Noordgesig 110

Protem Detention Centre in Cullinan 120

KWAZULU-NATALExcelsior Place of Safety in Pinetown 74Valley View Place of Safety in Sydenham Durban (Verulam) 20

Ocean View Place of Safety in Bluff Durban 15

Sinethemba Child and Youth Care Centre 39LIMPOPO Polokwane Secure Care 120

Malamulele Mavambe Secure Centre 70MPUMALANGA Hendrina Child and Youth Care Centre (Hendrina) 60

NORTHERN CAPEMolehe Mampe Secure Care Centre in Galeshewe, Kimberley 60

Marcus Mbetha Sindisa Secure Care Centre in Upington 70

Lerato Place of Safety in Kimberley 60Namaqua Secure Centre 51De Aar Secure care centre 60

NORTH WESTReamogetswe Secure Care Centre in Brits 35Mafikeng Secure Care 48Matlosana Secure Care 48Rustenburg 60

WESTERN CAPE Bonnytoun House in Wynberg, Cape Town 190Outeniequa House in George 77The Horizon Youth Centre in Faure Klawer 185Vredelust House in Elsies River 30Lindelani Place of Safety, Stellenbosch 60Clanwilliam Secure Care Centre 60

Total bed capacity 3272


• The purpose of these provisions is to prevent children from being detained in prisons.

• Currently, there are 28 Child and Youth Care Facilities, countrywide, with another 3 completely built, but not yet operational. These will be operational in the 2011/12 financial year.

• Social Development reported that from the 1st April to the 31st October 2010, an average of 3 599 children were admitted on a monthly basis; 3 470 were released and the overall admission for the period was 8 879.

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NPF: Establishment of One Stop Child Justice Centres

• The objective of One Stop Child Justice Centres is to ensure provision of integrated and holistic services in child justice.

• As reported earlier, there are two (2) existing One Stop Child Justice Centres in Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein.

• The Cluster has in the meantime, finalised and implemented Guidelines on the Establishment and Management of One Stop Child Justice Centres.

• Because of budgetary constraints, the Cluster is considering the feasibility of establishing One Stop Child Justice Centres at the existing Secure Care Facilities (Child and Youth Care Facilities).

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NPF: Resources and Budgets

• All implementing Departments and institutions have experienced lack of or insufficient dedicated resources and budgets.

• Departments are implementing the Act mostly within existing resources.

• For 2010/11, R30 million was received additionally, which was divided between the DoJ&CD, NPA and Legal Aid SA for additional dedicated capacity and co-ordination of cluster meetings, training and communication.

• The budget allocated for 2011/12 is R52 230 661.

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NPF: Communication and awareness-raising

• Developed Child Justice Communication Strategy for Cluster: – Launched the Act in Soweto on 1st April 2010;– Showcased the intersectoral co-ordination and co-operation to

successfully implement the Act at the Mangaung, Bloemfontein One Stop Child Justice Centre, and raised awareness on the Act. Audience included 3 local schools;

– Developed and distributed to all 9 regions, 100 000 child-friendly booklets and at least 2 banners for each Regional Office and implementing Department on Child Justice;

– SAPS: 24 crime prevention initiatives implemented;– Full implementation of the Communication Strategy is prioritised

for this financial year.

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NPF: Development of Information Technology and Integrated Justice Systems to Support

Information Management Systems• The Intersectoral Committee has established an Information

Management Sub-Task Team led by the Integrated Justice System, where a 3-phase process is currently followed to establish the Integrated Information Management System, as prescribed.

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Information Management SystemsPhases Intersectoral Committee for Child

Justice DoJ&CD

Phase 1 • All relevant Departments developed manual statistical tools to gather the required data.

• These tools are currently shared between Departments on a monthly basis, in order to monitor, fast-track and prioritise cases of children in conflict with the law. This is the short-term plan.

• A manual statistical tool was developed based on the case flow of children through the system as provided for in the Act.

• This tool was rolled-out to all courts in May 2010, and the courts were requested to submit the completed excel-sheets for analysis to the National Operational Centre on a monthly basis.

• However, the implementation process of this

tool is currently faced with some teething challenges, which are receiving the urgent attention of the Department.

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Intersectoral Committee for Child Justice

DoJ&CD

Phase 2 • The Departments started with the development of an integrated justice system, which will require them to submit their manual statistics to the Integrated Justice System.

• This system will make the statistics available to all the relevant Departments on a web-based portal. This is the medium-term plan

• The National Operational Centre statistical tool was developed and rolled-out in November 2010 to measure the main elements as prescribed in terms of section 96(1)(e) of the Act.


Information Management Systems

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Phases Intersectoral Committee for Child Justice DoJ&CD

Phase 3 • During this phase the relevant Departments’ Electronic Information Management Systems, will be linked with one another through the Integrated Justice System.

• This will also enable an automatic analysis of the information received. This is the long-term plan.

• An electronic Integrated Case Management System on Child Justice was also developed by the Department, supported by SITA.

• It has been tested and signed-off, and will now be piloted in 2 or 3 courts in the country, before being rolled-out countrywide in 2011.

• This electronic system will assist with Case-flow Management.

• The electronic reminders of the due dates for children’s cases will be managed, monitored and prioritised, as well as the gathering of monthly statistical reports, which will result in more accurate and verified statistics at court level.



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Information Management Systems• Other Summaries of statistics, in terms of section 97(4) of the Child Justice Act, 2008

Department Category Total number

SAPS Arrest or method of securing attendance at criminal proceedings

75 435

Charges of sexual offences committed by children 4 671

DoJ&CD Released into the care of a parent, appropriate adult or guardian

4 175

Children awaiting trial 2 171

Bail and placement while awaiting trial 161

Trials in child justice courts 3 216

Appeals 1

Reviews 44

Children appearing in court on sexual offences charges 1 587

Children used by adults to commit crime 342

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Department Category Total number

DSD Children placed into Child and Youth Care Facilities

8 879

Home-based supervision 4 664

DCS Awaiting trial in correctional facilities 298

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Province Apr-10 May-10 Jun-10 Jul-10 Aug-10 Sep-10 Oct-10 Nov-10 Dec-10 Jan-11 Feb-11 Mar-11 YTDEastern Cape 389 423 296 357 346 376 341 354 180 308 313 254 3937Free State 70 135 164 120 112 91 105 141 58 94 114 102 1306North West 137 178 102 82 92 107 112 129 39 117 110 69 1274Gauteng 346 261 243 393 260 230 289 268 150 250 234 188 3112KwaZulu Natal 611 720 523 457 632 909 427 471 253 441 405 410 6259Limpopo 162 61 64 75 80 90 93 50 49 68 68 60 920Mpumalanga 87 98 100 76 59 42 71 55 38 96 44 48 814Western Cape 505 533 826 717 450 494 610 442 341 450 343 707 6418Northern Cape 140 151 178 149 83 179 141 107 60 147 111 100 1546

Total 2447 2560 2496 2426 2114 2518 2189 2017 1168 1971 1742 1938 25586

Legal Aid South AfricaChildren Criminal Matters

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THE REGULATIONS, DIRECTIVES & NATIONAL INSTRUCTIONS

Section of the Act Department responsible

Activities Outputs Date finalised or tabled in Parliament

Section 97(1) DoJ&CD Coordinate the development of Regulations and its Forms

Regulations developed in terms of Act

Tabled in Parliament in February 2010 and Gazetted in March 2010.

Sections 11(3) and 97(3) DoJ&CD Determination of persons who are competent to conduct the assessment of the criminal capacity of a child referred to in section 11(3), in terms of section 97(3).

Government Notice issued

Published on 31st March 2010 in Government Gazette.

Section 97(4) NPA Develop Directives National directives by the National Director of Public Prosecutions

Drafted, tabled and published in March 2010.

Section 97(5) SAPS Develop National Instructions

Interim National Instructions by SAPS

Drafted and tabled in March 2010

Final National Instructions by SAPS

Tabled in June 2010.

Section 93 Cluster, chaired by DoJ&CD

Draft the Child Justice National Policy Framework (CJ NPF)

Draft CJ NPF Drafted and tabled in June 2010, and later published in August 2010 for public comments. Inputs from already received, and are being evaluated for incorporation into CJ NPF

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Provision and Accreditation of Diversion Programmes and Diversion Service Providers

•Section 56 (2) (a) of the Act requires the Minister of Social Development to to create a policy framework for the accreditation of diversion programmes and diversion service providers

•The Diversion Accreditation Framework was tabled in Parliament in June 2010 and a notice in the Gazette inviting applications for the accreditation of diversion programs and diversion service providers was published in August 2010, in compliance with section 56(2)(c)(ii) of the Act •All the applications received, are being considered and decided upon by the Department of Social Development.

Challenges and intervention strategies:

• Lack of enough additional dedicated budget allocations:– Will submit motivation for additional budget to the National Treasury.

• Decline in diversion statistics:– Have embarked on a research project to determine reasons for the

decline and establish measures to address gaps, if any.

• No Integrated Information Management System (IIMS) yet and capacity to conduct analysis thereof:– Established dedicated Information Management Task Team to facilitate

the finalization of the implementation phases for the development of the IIMS;

• Slow rollout of training to reach all relevant officials:– Establish Training Task Team to fast-track training; and

• Insufficient communication and awareness-raising:– Complete the implementation of the Communication Strategy

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Conclusion

• During the year under review, optimal performance was recorded by the various implementing Departments and institutions. Many provisions of the Act found implementation with favourable results.

• The Directors-General Intersectoral Committee and its operational structures made commendable work which resulted in numerous concrete deliverables within the initial year of implementation.

• However, the implementation process was not without teething

challenges, as previously highlighted.

Conclusion

• Nevertheless, the coordinated and joint approach that the Cluster Departments and the Non-Governmental organizations (represented in the National Operational Committee) demonstrated in the implementation of this Act, laid a concrete basis for success in many areas of service delivery. It is a foundation that the Directors-General Intersectoral Child Justice Steering Committee seeks to foster for greater achievements in the future.

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QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU!

Documents

Director-General: National Department of Justice and Constitutional Development; and