Diversion programmes created for children at conflict with the law
These norms and values centre around good behaviour, being a model child in society, a well-rounded and ethical child and exhibit feature that society recognises as good behaviour.
Motsamai Moulthaolwa, director for the communications at the Gauteng Department of Social Development, said it is every parent’s wish that their children grow up disciplined with behaviour that epitomises acceptable norms and values in any society.
“As most parents would know, not all will go according to what they would have hoped for. In some cases, parents don’t even have parenting plans for their children. When the unplanned happens, and when children become troublesome members of our society and participate in criminal activities, parents get the shock of their lives. However, they should not dismay and lose hope, this is not the end of the world for their children,” said Moulthaolwa.
He said the 1994 government started efforts to strengthen youth diversion programmes for children in conflict with the law.
“Current diversion was developed by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Young People at Risk. The aim of diversion programmes is to provide an alternative to the normal criminal justice approach where restorative justice principles are used to correct the behaviour of young offenders as to protect them from experiences of prison life in their youth years.”
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Addressing the National Conference on Substance Abuse and Family-Related Interventions at Birchwood Hotel early in November, Nanette Minaar, programme developer and trainer at Khulisa, said there are various factors beyond the control of the child offenders that are causes for their criminal behaviour.
“These include inter-generational poverty, unemployment, lack of social attachment, growing up in violent and crime-prone communities and lack of social cohesion, among others. The Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 makes provision to responding to justice issues facing such children,” Minaar said.
The objectives of the Act are to encourage the child to take responsibility for their crimes, to promote re-integration, to prevent stigmatisation of child offenders and to reduce chances of recidivism (re-offending).
“These objectives of diversion programmes can be realised through four levels – prosecutorial diversion, after the pre-trial assessment is conducted, at the preliminary inquiry and during the trial in the child justice court,” Minaar elaborates.
The conference heard that while the diversion programme is a tool to assist young offenders and help with rehabilitation, it remains the prime responsibility of families and parents to raise their children properly, which, among others, include spending a lot of time with their children so they can observe how they grow and be able to detect the wrong behaviour early on and correcting it.
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