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Kamal, Chomil. Directions of Juvenile Justice Reforms in Singapore

The Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA) Chapter 38 is the key legislation governing the administration of juvenile justice in Singapore. Though enacted as early as 23 September 1946, the spirit, intents and purposes of the CYPA remain progressive and very much relevant in our present Singapore society. Welfare of the juvenile is a guiding principle of this Act. Juveniles in conflict with the law are not excused of responsibility or accountability for their misconduct. The Act determines the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court for persons aged 7 to under 16 year olds and spells out clear principles for care and protection orders, f it person orders, social work and supervised treatment, approved home and young offender in custody. The CYPA balances parental authority and State intervention. As a nation, Singapore’s response to youth offending has been to pursue a fine equilibrium in the management of juvenile offenders such that the justice and restorative models are not opposing paradigms but that they actually compliment each other as mutually supportive elements of the juvenile justice system. (excerpt)

Tin Keng Seng, Eric. The Four Justice Models: Organised Creativity in Judicial Administration

The Justice Achievement Award was established to recognize outstanding achievements and projects that enhance the administration of justice. In this paper, Eric Tin Keng Seng, a magistrate for the Republic Singapore, profiles four justice models that provide the structure for the Singapore courts: civil justice (fair and effective dispute resolution); criminal justice (protecting the public); family justice (protecting family obligations); and juvenile justice (restorative justice). For each model, he identifies the target groups, the core work team, and significant justice initiatives. Moreover, he evaluates the effects of the justice initiatives on the Singapore community.

Ozawa, Joseph Paul. Transformative Justice: Psychological Services in the Criminal, Family, and Juvenile Justice Centres of the Subordinate Courts of Singapore

In addition to being a centre for the expeditious, fair, and effective administration of justice and the disposition of deterrence, the Subordinate Courts of Singapore have developed as a centre of innovation. Courts are also conceptualised as a crucible of human conflicts, traumas, and relational dysfunctions, thus requiring expertise in dealing with complex human problems. Psychological Services go beyond the conventional notion of providing expert criminal profiling to becoming a driving force behind individual, familial, and societal transformation. Three functions of the Psychological Services are presented-Family conferencing; the Juvenile Offender Behavior (JOB) criteria; and Project HEART. Each function reflects transformation within a forensic-legal framework.

Wing Lo, T and Maxwell, Gabrielle and Wong, Dennis and Maxwell, Gabrielle. Diversion From Youth Courts in Five Asia Pacific Jurisdictions: Welfare or Restorative Solutions

This article examines how juvenile offenders are diverted from prosecution in juvenile courts in five Asia Pacific jurisdictions: Queensland, Australia; New Zealand; Hong Kong; Singapore; and China. In all of these jurisdictions, there has been a trend away from punitive and retributive approaches to the diversion of juvenile offenders from prosecution in a court to the community-based welfare model and the restorative model. The community-based welfare model relies primarily on counseling, community support, and educational assistance and is usually led by professionals. This model tends to categorize juvenile offenders as having problem behaviors and emotional conditions that require treatment and supervision. The restorative model emphasizes the accountability of juvenile offenders for the harms their behavior caused and uses negotiation among the youth, their victims, and the youth's family to develop measures for repairing the harm done and addressing the youth's behaviors that caused the harm. This model limits the involvement of professionals in decisionmaking about the disposition of the case. New Zealand and Queensland use the restorative model. Criticisms of this model have included the lack of due process and protections for the rights of offenders, as well as the potential for undue influence by the police. Hong Kong and Singapore have adopted a traditional rehabilitation and welfare orientation whereby police divert juveniles from the courts through police cautions and referrals to community support and guidance services operated by social workers. In China, community-based practices such as police cautions, mediation, and educational assistance are used in diverting youth from court-based processing. Community-based sanctions are particularly susceptible to the influence of personal power and persuasion, and outcomes may favor those who have close affiliations with or hold powerful positions in the government. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov.

Developing Holistic Approaches in Singapore.

Joseph Ozawa is the Senior Director of the Family and Juvenile Justice Centre (FJJC) of the Subordinate Courts of Singapore. He is active in FJJC’s development of restorative and holistic practices. In this article, he describes three programs now in use in Singapore and relates how the format is important in the Asian context.