ATC181114: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on the Child Justice Amendment Bill [B32 -2018] (National Assembly – section 75), dated 14 November 2018

Justice and Correctional Services

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on the Child Justice Amendment Bill [B32 -2018] (National Assembly – section 75), dated 14 November 2018
 

The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services (the Committee), having considered the Child Justice Amendment Bill [B 32 -2018], (the Bill) referred to it and classified by the Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) as a section 75 Bill, reports the Bill with amendments [B32A - 2018]. The Committee, furthermore, wishes to report as follows:

During its deliberations, the Committee considered the proposed amendment to section 92 of the Child Justice Act, which addresses children used by adults to commit crimes. In some instances, however, young children are used by older children to commit crimes. The amendment, therefore, seeks to substitute the word ‘adult’ with ‘persons’ to deal with this. During its deliberations, however, the Committee noted the paucity of information regarding the occurrence of children being used by adults to commit crime. Nor does there appear to be any information that the relevant section of the Act is being used to charge those who take advantage of children in this way. The Committee therefore requests that the Ministry engage with the Minister of Police and the National Prosecuting Authority with a view to ensuring that the necessary data is collected and regularly reported on.

 

Report to be considered.