Child Justice Bill H.B. 11, 2021 Lapsed

This Bill would have established a distinct child justice system for children in conflict with the law, applying to a child in Zimbabwe or to anyone who was under 18 when the offence was committed. Its governing principle is stated plainly: a child must not be treated more severely than an adult would have been in the same circumstances.

On age, a child under 12 may not be arrested at all — the matter must be stopped and the child dealt with through the process in the Bill, including being handed to their parents. The criminal capacity of children between twelve and fourteen is dealt with separately. Police, child protection officers, diversion officers and the courts each get rules for estimating age where it is in doubt.

Police powers are tightly framed. On arresting a child an officer must explain the child's rights and the nature of the allegation, and must notify a parent or guardian of the arrest and the child's whereabouts. For minor offences carrying no more than three months' imprisonment, an officer may issue an informal or formal caution instead of prosecuting. An identification parade may only be held with a legal practitioner for the child, or a parent or guardian, present, and fingerprints or other identifying material may only be taken with the approval of a magistrate or High Court judge.

Detention is constrained throughout. Police must keep a register of every child in custody, no child may be further detained if the trial is not concluded within thirty days of plea, and the Prosecutor-General may direct release on special bail before a first court appearance. The court may release a child into a parent's custody, on their own recognisances, or on bail.

The centre of the Bill is diversion and restorative justice. A diversion committee decides whether a matter is suitable for diversion, weighing the child's personal circumstances and the nature of the offence, and the Bill sets out specific diversion options and a Diversion Register. Family group conferences bring a child who admits an offence together with the victim, the child's family and community, and support persons for the victim; victim-offender mediation is also provided for. Assessments are confidential, and breaching that confidentiality is itself an offence.

In court, a child has the right to legal representation, at the State's expense if they cannot afford it. Parents or guardians must attend. Handcuffs may not be used on a child except in exceptional circumstances, trials of children are separated from those of adults, proceedings are private and confidential, and trials must be concluded as speedily as possible.

Sentencing requires a pre-sentence report from a child protection officer or social worker. Community-based sentences are provided for, imprisonment is available only as a last resort and for the shortest period, a court imposing a fine must consider the ability of the child or the parents to pay, and a court is prohibited from imposing a mandatory sentence prescribed by any other Act — it must sentence according to the principles of child justice instead. A child's conviction record may be expunged.

Oversight would sit with Child Justice Committees at national, provincial and district level and a National Coordinator of Child Justice.

One fact a reader needs first: this Bill lapsed. It is recorded here as a lapsed Bill and did not become law, so nothing in it is in force. It is the companion to the Children's Amendment Bill of the same year, which repealed the juvenile detention section of the Children's Act on the basis that child criminal justice would be dealt with in this separate Act.