Facts regarding children in conflict with the law

• Inadequate care and protection systems create multiple levels of violence against children and bring girls and boys into conflict with the law;
• The overwhelming majority of children in the criminal justice system do not belong there;
• The vast majority of youngsters deprived of their liberty have not been convicted of a crime and are yet to be brought to trial;
• Misuse and overuse of detention and lack of alternatives put large numbers of boys and girls at risk of violence;
• Imprisoning children for minor crimes decreases their chances to become productive, contributing adults, and is a disservice to communities;
• The vast majority of children in conflict with the law are boys, but both boys and girls are subject to human rights violations.

• Prevent girls and boys coming into conflict with the law in the first place by addressing the care and protection challenges they face;
• Ensure that prevention, diversion and protection strategies are gender-sensitive, taking into account the over-representation of boys in the system as well as the problems faced by girls due to their minority status;
• Decriminalise status offences and survival behaviours (such as begging, loitering; vagrancy), victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, and anti-social behaviours;
• Utilise diversion as the presumed response to offenses, and reserve the formal criminal/juvenile justice system only for serious/violent offenders;
• Ensure comprehensive, child-focused restorative juvenile justice systems that implement international standards;
• Hold perpetrators of violence against boys and girls accountable through effective and transparent complaints, monitoring, investigation and redress mechanisms.