More on Restorative Justice at the UN Crime Congress
Apr 14, 2010
Day two at the 12th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice didn’t yield as many comments of restorative justice, but there were some interesting statements made especially by the delegates from South Africa and Peru. On 13 April, the Plenary continued its discussion on Children, Youth, and Crime with more member states as well as non-governmental organisations and independent experts.
The morning started with a statement from the Russian Federation that called on more civil society involvement in responding to the situations that lead to crime and violence against children. This was followed by the South African delegate describing changes in the South African juvenile justice system. According to the delegate, child detention is to be used only as a last resort. The Child Justice Act of 2008 (which went into force on 1 April 2010) introduces standards of diversion for young people in conflict with the law including restorative processes. Juvenile offenders are to be assessed within 48 hours of arrest and placed in the appropriate diversionary tract. The goal is to keep as many juveniles out of prison as possible. She went on to describe how youth are prioritised for assistance from entities such as Legal Aid South Africa for assistance in the criminal justice system.
The Peruvian delegate spoke about advocating for the social reintegration of juvenile offenders. He said that the system should focus on restorative juvenile justice. He went on to explain about pilot restorative juvenile justice projects in the northern part of the country and in the capital. He referenced the recent conference held in Lima that brought together experts from around the world to discuss restorative justice in responding to juvenile crime. He called for the Salvador Declaration (each United Nations Congress issues a declaration) to endorse the development of regional projects on the use of restorative juvenile justice.
For various reasons, I was unable to sit through the entire session on Children, Youth, and Crime, but from what I did hear Peru and South Africa were the two countries that stood out. I did have a brief conversation from a colleague from Chile who is working with me on a panel that will be held on Friday. She told me that there is a lot happening with restorative justice in Chile, but it isn’t working very well in the juvenile justice area.
While attending the session on Children, Youth and Crime, I did make an intervention on the part of Prison Fellowship International calling on the Congress to consider the situation of children of prisoners.
For those interested in learning more about what is happening at the Congress, the UN is offering a live webcast. There is also video on demand for the sessions that have happened over the last two days.
