Juvenile justice to stand on its own

Government is to amend the criminal code to make juvenile justice stand on its own in the over all administration of justice in the country, Chief State Attorney Mrs Estelle Appiah said on Thursday.

This, she said, would provide adequate protection to children who come into conflict with the law.

Presenting a paper on "Juvenile Justice Before and After Law Reform" at a day's workshop for police officers of the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAFU) of the Police Service in Accra, Mrs. Appiah said in view of this, the Ministry of Justice has prepared a draft bill on juvenile justice to be laid before parliament shortly.

She said the bill would include the reformatory aspects of juvenile justice to provide comprehensively for judicial process of juveniles.

Mrs Appiah noted that under the proposed bill a language misinterpretation is removed to define a juvenile as a person below 18 years.

"The age of criminal responsibility is at the cornerstone of juvenile justice," she said, adding that the amendment has fixed the age for sexual responsibility at 16 years instead of 12 in the criminal code.

On determination of the age of children, which sometimes poses problems, Mrs Appiah said: "The new provision will stipulate that in the absence of a birth certificate or a baptismal certificate, a certificate signed by a medical practitioner as to the age of a child under 18 years is to be the evidence of that age before a court without proof of signature unless the court otherwise directs.”

The bill, she said, also provides juveniles the right to privacy during investigation of offences, at the trial and at any other stage of cause or matter.

"Any person who releases for publication any information that may lead to the identification of the juvenile offender in the course of investigation or trial commits an offence"

The bill stipulates that a juvenile can be released on self-recognizance or recognizance entered by another person before charged unless the offence is serious.

Mrs. Appiah noted that the rights of juveniles at police stations have been clearly spelt out in the bill and added that methods of dealing with offenders under the bill would, however, remain unchanged.

Juvenile courts, she said, are to deal with cases expeditiously and that if cases are not completed within three months the juvenile is to be discharged and not liable for any further procedure in respect of the same offence.

The major reform provisions in the bill are on the new punishment regime and they stipulate that the detention of juvenile in corrective institutions should be the last resort.

Juveniles are to be detained separately and their associations are to be restricted. Mrs Appiah said the bill provides adequately for the best interest of the juvenile. "The challenge would be the implementation of the bill when enacted."

She stressed that the objectives of the bill would only be attained if stakeholders in juvenile justice take the issue of juveniles mindful of the fact that children of today are the future leaders of tomorrow.