Priorities for intervention

The need for a holistic approach to reform

Reform of juvenile justice systems to bring them into conformity with international human rights standards is a complex and often daunting task, involving multiple actors and sections of government. As with a tangled knot, there may be many problems in many areas and yet pulling at the knot in some areas may actually make matters worse. For example, attention to conducting physical repairs of detention centres may divert attention and resources away from programmes to ensure that children don’t end up in detention in the first place.

Difficult decisions need to be made in the context of scarcity of resources, conflicting interests, lack of political will and negative media influence. With this in mind, the following areas have been highlighted as needing priority attention. The first four (end the juvenile death penalty, life imprisonment, violence and reduce pre-trial detention) require urgent intervention to end severe human rights violations of children and adolescents. The remaining three (prevention & early intervention, diversion & alternatives to detention, and aftercare & reintegration) address more systemic reforms needed to re-orient juvenile justice systems towards becoming child-centrered and humane, fair, restorative, effective and efficient, balancing the needs of society, victims and offenders, and becoming compliant with international human rights standards.

End the juvenile death penalty
End life imprisonment
End violence
Reduce pre-trial detention
Prevention & early intervention
Diversion & alternatives to detention
Aftercare & reintegration

End the juvenile death penalty

‘Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age’ - UNCRC, Article 37(a).
There are currently only six countries that still have the juvenile death penalty: Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. In 2005 a Supreme Court ruling ended the juvenile death penalty in the USA, resulting in the removal of 72 people from death row.
Useful websites: Penal Reform International, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch

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End life imprisonment

‘Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age’ - UNCRC, Article 37(a).
Approximately 12 countries worldwide allow for minors to be given lifetime sentences with no provision for eventual release. Of these only four – Israel, South Africa, Tanzania and the USA have minors serving such sentences.
Useful websites: Penal Reform International

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End violence

‘No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ UNCRC Article 37(a)
‘States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child’ – UNCRC Article 19.1
‘Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement’ UNCRC Article 19.2
Other CRC articles of relevance: 32 (protection from economic exploitation and harmful child labour); 33 (protection from narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances); 34 (protection from sexual exploitation and abuse).
A thematic consultation on violence against children in conflict with the law, for the United Nations Secretary-General’s study on violence against children, held in Geneva in April 2005, identified: the aspects of violence that are particularly widespread, severe and under-reported or under-recognised; key issues that facilitate violence against children in conflict with the law; detailed recommendations for reform and priority messages for the Secretary-General’s Study.
Useful websites: United Nations Study on Violence against Children, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

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Reduce pre-trial detention

‘No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time’ – UNCRC Article 37(b)
Around the world, children and adolescents spend an extraordinary amount of time in often appalling conditions of detention in police cells and remand homes ranging from weeks to years pending the outcome from a trial or hearing. In spite of gradual improvements in this area in some countries, delays at this stage are commonplace due to bureaucracy, lack of adequate transport, mistakes, lack of communication between actors in the system and because nobody cares about what is happening to these children: they have limited or no contact with responsible adults who are able to plead their case – or who are rich enough to pay bribes to speed up the process.
Boys and girls are often kept in deplorable and inhumane conditions and detained alongside adult prisoners. Physical and sexual abuse is common. Children lack access to education, recreational facilities, psychological support and health services. Detention facilitates the spread of diseases and infections, including sexually transmitted infections and HIV.
In many cases, even the most fundamental principles of due process are violated. Arrest, detention and sentencing are often arbitrary and sometimes even illegal. Girls and boys may be encouraged to plead guilty, regardless of whether or not they have committed the offence with which they are charged, simply in order to speed up the process. Parents are commonly denied visitation rights.
Urgent action is needed to end the practice of pre-trial detention except in very serious cases where non-custodial alternatives would result in a danger to others or a risk of flight.

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Prevention & early intervention

Prevention is crucial to being able to systematically address the socio-economic and psychosocial problems faced by children and young people which contribute to them coming into conflict with the law. The emphasis on prevention in any juvenile justice reform strategy cannot be over-emphasised, although it is often neglected at the expense of shorter-term, more politically visible ‘tough on crime’ policies. Successful prevention work revolves around efforts to create society-wide conditions of non-discrimination, inclusion and access to basic services, thereby mitigating against marginalisation, exclusion, exploitation and other elements of social injustice (that can spawn behaviour reproved by the law). It is particularly important to ensure that such interventions reach those children most at-risk.
The UN Guidelines on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (Riyadh Guidelines) cover both general, ‘developmental’ prevention (addressing the root causes of the creation of social problems such as poverty and inequality) and ‘responsive’ prevention (programmes targeted at those children most at risk of coming into conflict with the law). The Riyadh Guidelines encourage a positive emphasis on socio-economic support and quality of life rather than a ‘negative’ crime prevention approach. They cover virtually all social areas such as family, school, community, media, social policy, legislation and juvenile justice administration.

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Diversion & alternatives to detention

‘Whenever appropriate and desirable, measures for dealing with such children without resorting to judicial proceedings, providing that human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected’ – UNCRC Article 40.3
‘A variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counselling; probation; foster care; education and vocational training programmes and other alternatives to institutional care shall be available to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proportionate both to their circumstances and the offence’ – UNCRC Article 40.4
‘No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time’ – UNCRC Article 37(b)
Diversion means ‘diverting’ children in conflict with the law away from the formal criminal justice system, and in particular away from formal court processes (through pre-trial diversion and informal / alternative sentencing processes). Along with alternatives to detention, diversion is an important component of restorative justice.

Benefits of diversion and alternatives to detention for the individual child:
- Evidence shows that diversion is likely to have a positive impact in reducing rates of offending.
- Diversion and alternatives to detention aim to break the revolving cycle of stigmatisation, violence, humiliation, and rupturing of social relationships.
- They avoid labelling children and reinforcing their criminal experience.
- They avoid limiting children’s options for reintegration and future development: “Offenders sentenced to forms of disposal that introduce them to more criminals (in particular in custodial sentences) learn criminal skills, language and culture that is very likely to reinforce offending behaviour. Once defined as a criminal in their own eyes and those of wider society, they find it much more difficult to change and adjust to the world of school work and family life. It is therefore argued that children should be diverted from court processes and from custody whenever possible.” (Petty, C. and Brown, M. (eds), Justice for Children, 1998, p.12).

Benefits of diversion and alternatives to detention for society:
- Diversion and alternatives to detention benefit not only the individual, but also society as a whole. By sparing appropriately selected first time offenders the expense of trial and the stigmatising consequences of a criminal conviction, successful divertees are given the opportunity to make reparations to their communities through integration rather than isolation from social networks.
Economic benefits of diversion and alternatives to detention:
- Furthermore, not only is it socially and psychologically preferable, but many non-formal justice options are also much cheaper than court procedures and detention. Research by Penal Reform International (PRI) has shown that criminal justice systems all over the world use up scarce resources that could have been deployed towards more beneficial social programmes. Imprisonment prevents people from contributing to their local economies and their families. Imprisonment is also very costly. For example, according to a former Brazilian prison administrator, "The annual cost of a prisoner in Brazil is US$4,440, but in some states this number is much higher.... If the money that is being spent to maintain the 45,000 prisoners that did not commit violent or serious crimes could be used in some different ways, one could, for example, build 18,163 units of houses for the poor; or 4,995 health care units; or 391 schools." (Lemgruber, J. quoted in Singh, W., Alternatives to Custody in the Caribbean: The Handling of Children who Come into Conflict with the Law, 1997)

Investment into research and advocacy efforts to influence policy reform in this direction is needed.

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Aftercare & reintegration

‘States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child's respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child's age and the desirability of promoting the child's reintegration and the child's assuming a constructive role in society’ - UNCRC Article 40.1
‘States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child.’ Article 39
Over-reliance in juvenile justice systems on detention reinforces separation of children and adolescents from protective societal networks, reinforces discrimination and stigmatisation and, in many cases, increases rather than decreases rates of recidivism. This rupturing of community links, combined with lack of resources and attention paid to aftercare and reintegration, results in many children and adolescents being released following detention with limited or no support. Without addressing the root causes of offending behaviour, minimising risk factors and strengthening protective factors available to children and adolescents in difficult circumstances, there is no framework or motivation for these young people not to reoffend.
As with the other stages of the system, the key to reform lies in sensitization to overcome discrimination at individual and societal level, combined with proactive efforts to re-build and strengthen social and community relationships. This in turn benefits not only the individual children concerned, but also the community as a whole.

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Much of the text for this section of the website has been adapted from Wernham, M., An Outside Chance: Street Children and Juvenile Justice – An International Perspective, Consortium for Street Children, 2004.

See the website section on 'International Standards' for further information and copies of the international legislation referred to here.