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South
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NATIONAL LEGISLATION OVERVIEWS
NATIONAL LEGISLATION OVERVIEWS
Child Justice Act, No. 75 of 2008
NOTE: Assented to and published in English, with alternative copy in _, except iro notice of assent date and title/text/engrossments in the following sections: s_ (_/_/_)
Long title
To establish a criminal justice system for children, who are in conflict with the law and are accused of committing offences, in accordance with the values underpinning the Constitution and the international obligations of the Republic; to provide for the minimum age of criminal capacity of children; to provide a mechanism for dealing with children who lack criminal capacity outside the criminal justice system; to make special provision for securing attendance at court and the release or detention and placement of children; to make provision for the assessment of children; to provide for the holding of a preliminary inquiry and to incorporate, as a central feature, the possibility of diverting matters away from the formal criminal justice system, in appropriate circumstances; to make provision for child justice courts to hear all trials of children whose matters are not diverted; to extend the sentencing options available in respect of children who have been convicted; to entrench the notion of restorative justice in the criminal justice system in respect of children who are in conflict with the law; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
Table of contents
Legislation Text Access Point
NOTE: Assented to and published in English, with alternative copy in _, except iro notice of assent date and title/text/engrossments in the following sections: s_ (_/_/_)
Long title
To establish a criminal justice system for children, who are in conflict with the law and are accused of committing offences, in accordance with the values underpinning the Constitution and the international obligations of the Republic; to provide for the minimum age of criminal capacity of children; to provide a mechanism for dealing with children who lack criminal capacity outside the criminal justice system; to make special provision for securing attendance at court and the release or detention and placement of children; to make provision for the assessment of children; to provide for the holding of a preliminary inquiry and to incorporate, as a central feature, the possibility of diverting matters away from the formal criminal justice system, in appropriate circumstances; to make provision for child justice courts to hear all trials of children whose matters are not diverted; to extend the sentencing options available in respect of children who have been convicted; to entrench the notion of restorative justice in the criminal justice system in respect of children who are in conflict with the law; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
Table of contents
| SECTION | TITLE |
| PREAMBLE | |
| TABLE OF CONTENTS | |
| CHAPTER 1. DEFINITIONS, OBJECTS AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF ACT | |
| 1. | Definitions |
| 2. | Objects
of Act |
| 3. | Guiding
principles |
| CHAPTER
2. APPLICATION OF ACT, CRIMINAL CAPACITY OF CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF
14 YEARS AND MATTERS RELATED TO AGE |
|
| Part 1. Application of Act | |
| 4. | Application of Act |
| 5. | Manner
of dealing with children who are alleged to have committed offences |
| 6. | Seriousness
of offences |
| Part
2. Criminal capacity of children under the age of 14 years |
|
| 7. | Minimum
age of criminal capacity |
| 8. | Review
of minimum age of criminal capacity |
| 9. | Manner of dealing with child under the age of 12 years [... Title amended by GG2019_028_006_20200604 - was entitled "Manner of dealing with child under the age of 10 years"] |
| 10. | Decision to prosecute child who is 12 years or older but under the age of 14 years [... Title amended by GG2019_028_007_20200604 - was entitled "Decision to prosecute child who is 10 years or older but under the age of 14 years"] |
| 11. | Proof
of criminal capacity |
| Part 3. Age estimation, age determination and error regarding age | |
| 12. | Responsibility
of police official where age of child is uncertain |
| 13. | Age
estimation by probation officer |
| 14. | Age
determination by inquiry magistrate or child justice court |
| 15. | Age
determination by any other court |
| 16. | Error
regarding age of child who is alleged to have committed offence |
| CHAPTER 3. WRITTEN NOTICE, SUMMONS AND ARREST | |
| 17. | Methods
of securing attendance of child at preliminary inquiry |
| 18. | Written
notice to appear at preliminary inquiry |
| 19. | Summons |
| 20. | Arrest |
| CHAPTER
4. RELEASE OR DETENTION AND PLACEMENT OF CHILD PRIOR TO SENTENCE AND
RELATED MATTERS |
|
| Part 1. Release or detention | |
| 21. | Approach
to be followed when considering release or detention of child after
arrest |
| 22. | Release of child on written notice into care of parent or appropriate person or guardian before first appearance at preliminary inquiry [...Title amended by Act 2019_028_022_20200604 - was entitled "Release of child on written notice into care of parent or appropriate adult or guardian before first appearance at preliminary inquiry"] |
| 23. | Duty of police official when releasing child into care of parent or appropriate person or guardian [...Title amended by Act 2019_028_022_20200604 - was entitled "Duty of police official when releasing child into care of parent or appropriate adult or guardian"] |
| 24. | Release of child into care of parent or appropriate person or guardian or on own recognisance at preliminary inquiry or child justice court [...Title amended by Act 2019_028_022_20200604 - was entitled "Release of child into care of parent or appropriate adult or guardian or on own recognisance at preliminary inquiry or child justice court"] |
| 25. | Release
of child on bail |
| Part 2. Placement | |
| 26. | Approach
to be followed when considering placement of child |
| 27. | Placement
options for child who has not been released before first appearance at
preliminary inquiry |
| 28. | Protection
of children detained in police custody |
| 29. | Placement in a child and youth care centre |
| 30. | Placement
in a prison |
| 31. | Error
regarding placement |
| Part
3. Factors to be taken into account by presiding officer regarding
further detention and placement and conditions of detention at
preliminary inquiry or child justice court |
|
| 32. | Factors
to be taken
into account by presiding officer regarding further detention and
placement at preliminary inquiry or child justice court |
| 33. | Conditions
of detention at preliminary inquiry or child justice court |
| CHAPTER 5. ASSESSMENT OF CHILD | |
| 34. | Duty
of probation officer to assess children |
| 35. | Purpose
of assessment |
| 36. | Confidentiality
of information obtained at assessment |
| 37. | Place
where assessment is to be conducted |
| 38. | Persons
to attend assessment |
| 39. | Powers and duties of probation officer at assessment |
| 40. | Assessment
report of probation officer |
| CHAPTER 6. DIVERSION BY PROSECUTOR IN RESPECT OF MINOR OFFENCES | |
| 41. | Diversion
by prosecutor before preliminary inquiry in respect of offences
referred to in Schedule 1 |
| 42. | Diversion
option to be made order of court |
| CHAPTER 7. PRELIMINARY INQUIRY | |
| 43. | Nature
and objectives of preliminary inquiry |
| 44. | Persons
to attend preliminary inquiry |
| 45. | Confidentiality
of information furnished at preliminary inquiry |
| 46. | Failure to
appear at preliminary inquiry |
| 47. | Procedure
relating to holding of preliminary inquiry |
| 48. | Postponement
of preliminary inquiry |
| 49. | Orders at preliminary inquiry |
| 50. | Referral of
children in need of care and protection to children's court |
| CHAPTER 8. DIVERSION | |
| 51. | Objectives of
diversion |
| 52. | Consideration
of diversion |
| 53. | Diversion
options |
| 54. | Selection of
diversion option |
| 55. | Minimum
standards applicable to diversion |
| 56. | Provision and
accreditation of diversion programmes and diversion service providers |
| 57. | Monitoring of
compliance with diversion order |
| 58. | Failure to
comply with diversion order |
| 59. | Legal consequences of diversion |
| 60. | Register of
children in respect of whom diversion order has been made |
| 61. | Family group
conference |
| 62. | Victim-offender
mediation |
| CHAPTER 9. TRIAL IN CHILD JUSTICE COURT | |
| 63. | Child justice
courts and conduct of trials involving children |
| 64. | Referral of
children in need of care and protection to children's court |
| 65. | Parental
assistance |
| 66. | Time limits
relating to postponements |
| 67. | Child justice
court may divert matter |
| CHAPTER 10. SENTENCING | |
| Part 1. General | |
| 68. | Child to be
sentenced in terms of this Chapter |
| 69. | Objectives of sentencing and factors to be considered |
| 70. | Impact of
offence on victim |
| 71. | Pre-sentence
reports |
| Part 2. Sentencing options | |
| 72. | Community-based
sentences |
| 73. | Restorative
justice sentences |
| 74. | Fine or
alternatives to fine |
| 75. | Sentences of correctional supervision [...amended by Act 2013_042_038_20140122 - was entitled "Sentences involving correctional supervision"] |
| 76. | Sentence of
compulsory residence in child and youth care centre |
| 77. | Sentence of
imprisonment |
| 78. | Postponement
or suspension of passing of sentence |
| 79. | Failure to
comply with certain sentences |
| CHAPTER 11. LEGAL REPRESENTATION | |
| 80. | Requirements
to be complied with by legal representatives |
| 81. | Legal
representation at preliminary inquiry |
| 82. | Child to be
provided with legal representation at State expense in certain
circumstances |
| 83. | Child may not
waive legal representation in certain circumstances |
| CHAPTER 12. APPEALS AND AUTOMATIC REVIEW OF CERTAIN CONVICTIONS AND SENTENCES | |
| 84. | Appeals |
| 85. | Automatic
review in certain cases |
| 86. | Release on
bail pending review or appeal |
| CHAPTER 13. RECORDS OF CONVICTION AND SENTENCE | |
| 87. | Expungement of
records of certain convictions and diversion orders |
| CHAPTER 14. GENERAL PROVISIONS | |
| 88. | Rules of court |
| 89. | Establishment and jurisdiction of One-Stop Child Justice Centres |
| 90. | Referral
of information relating to age to Department of Home Affairs |
| 91. | Liability for
patrimonial loss arising from execution of diversion order |
| 92. | Persons using children to commit crime [...Title amended by Act 2019_028_022_20200604 - was entitled "Children used by adults to commit crime"] |
| 93. | National
policy framework |
| 94. | Establishment
of lntersectoral Committee |
| 95. | Meetings of Intersectoral Committee |
| 96. | Responsibilities,
functions and duties of Intersectoral Committee |
| 97. | Regulations,
directives, national instructions and register |
| 98. | Transitional
arrangements |
| 99. | Repeal or
amendment of laws |
| 100. | Short title and commencement |
| Sch. 1. | ... (Sections 6(1)(a), 10(2)(a)(i), 18(1), 20(1), 21(2)(a) and (b) and (3)(b), 22(1), 24(2)(b), 27(a)(ii), 30(5)(a), 41(1), 52(2), 53(2)(a), 54(2)(a), 71(1)(b), 77(3)(c), 87(1)(a)(i), 92 and 99(2)(a)) [sic - no title] |
| Sch. 2. | ... (Sections
6(1)(b), 21(2)(b) and (3)(b), 24(2)(b), 27(a)(ii) and (b), 52(2), 53(2)(b), 54(2)(b), 77(3)(b), 87(1)(a)(ii), 92 and 99(2)(a)) [sic - no title] |
| Sch. 3. | ... (Sections 6(1)(c), 30(1)(c), (2) and (5)(a), 52(3)(a), 53(2)(b), 54(2)(b), 76(3), 77(3)(a) and 99(2)(a)) [sic - no title] |
| Sch. 4. | ... (Section 99(1)) [sic - no title] |
| Sch. 5. | AUDIT OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CHILD JUSTICE BILL (Section 4(3)(b)) [sic - reference to "Bill"] |
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| Versions [To check whether a version has commenced, and how it was commenced, please see the Timeline for the Act, and the Annotated Text for the version.] |
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| As unamended Act 2008_075_000_20090511 | EXT.LINK (LB full copy on request) | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act 2013_007_000_20130729 . | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act 2013_042_000_20140122 . | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act 2014_014_000_20140519 . | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act 2014_039_000_20141209 . | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act 2015_024_000_20160108 . | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act 2019_028_000_20200604 . | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act 2020_019_000_20210601 . | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act 2023_016_000_20240514 . | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
| As amended by Act ... | N/A | REQ.INFO | LINK |
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