The Child Justice Act: Procedural Sentencing Issues

Authors

  • Stephan S Terblanche University of South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2013/v16i1a2314

Keywords:

child justice, pre-sentence report, victim impact statement, review of child justice proceedings, appeal against sentence, juvenile justice – South Africa, juvenile justice – sentences.

Abstract

In this contribution a number of procedural issues related to the sentencing of child offenders and emanating from the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 are considered in some detail. As a general rule, the Act requires pre-sentence reports to be obtained from probation officers before sentencing any child offender, with only a limited number of exceptions. The article argues that the peremptory nature of the Act means that a probation report is always required, even if reports by other experts are also available. The exceptions are limited to instances other than those where the child offender is sentenced to any form of imprisonment or to residence in a care centre. The article addresses the question of whether or not the reference to imprisonment includes alternative imprisonment which is imposed only as an alternative to a fine. It suggests that alternative imprisonment should, generally, not be imposed on child offenders. When an exception is not prevented because of the sentence, a pre-sentence report may be dispensed with only when the offence is a schedule-1 offence (the least serious class of offences) or when obtaining a report would prejudice the child. It is argued that these exceptions are likely to occur rather rarely. A final aspect of the Act’s provisions on pre-sentence reports is the requirement that reasons be given for a departure from the recommendations in a pre-sentence report. This requirement merely confirms the status quo.

 

The Act permits the prosecutor to provide the court with a victim impact statement. Such a statement is defined in the Act. It is a sworn statement by a victim or someone authorised by the victim explaining the consequences to the victim of the commission of the crime. The article also addresses the issue of whether or not the child justice court might mero motu obtain a victim impact statement when the prosecution does not do so.

 

Finally, the article addresses appeals against and reviews of the trial courts’ sentences. It notes that appeal by the child offender is made somewhat easier, as some child offenders need not obtain leave to appeal. These include children under the age of 16, or older children sentenced to imprisonment. Again, the meaning of “imprisonment” is at least somewhat ambiguous. The provisions on automatic review have attracted considerable judicial attention already. The majority of these judgments confirmed the apparently clear wording of the Act, in terms of which the cases of all child offenders under the age of 16 should be reviewed regardless of whether they were legally represented or of the sentence imposed. In the case of child offenders aged 16 or 17, only custodial sentences are reviewable. The judgments which found this to be an incorrect interpretation are dealt with in some detail, with the conclusion that they were incorrectly decided.

   ScienceOpen_Log0343274.png

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Bibliography

Badenhorst Implementation of the Child Justice Act

Badenhorst C Overview of the Implementation of the Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act 75 of 2008) (Open Society Foundation Pinelands 2011)

Cilliers and Luiz 1995 THRHR

Cilliers JB and Luiz SM "The Development and Significance of the Title ‘Officer of the Court’" 1995 THRHR 603-612

Clarke, Davies and Booyens 2003 Acta Criminologica

Clarke D, Davis L and Booyens K "A Silver Era for Victims of Crime: Reassessing the Role that Victim Impact Statements can Play in Improving Victim Involvement in Criminal Justice Procedures" 2003 Acta Criminologica 43-56

Du Toit et al Commentary

Du Toit E et al Commentary on the Criminal Procedure Act (Juta Cape Town 1987 (Service 48 2012))

Ehlers Child Justice

Ehlers L Child Justice (Open Society Foundation Pinelands 2006)

Englebrecht Victim Impact Statement

Englebrecht CM The Victim Impact Statement: An Analysis of its Content, Function, and Meaning within the Criminal Justice System (PhD-thesis University of Albany, New York 2008)

Frank Review of Victim Policy

Frank C Quality Services Guaranteed? A Review of Victim Policy in South Africa (Institute for Security Studies Pretoria 2007)

Gallinetti "Child Justice in South Africa"

Gallinetti J "Child Justice in South Africa: The Realisation of the Rights of Children Accused of Crime" in Boezaart T (ed) Child Law in South Africa (Juta Cape Town 2009) 635-664

Gallinetti Getting to Know the Child Justice Act

Gallinetti J Getting to Know the Child Justice Act (Child Justice Alliance Bellville 2009)

Gxubane 2008 SA Crime Quarterly

Gxubane T "Agents of Restorative Justice? Probation Officers in the Child Justice System" 2008 SA Crime Quarterly (25) 11-16

Joubert Criminal Procedure Handbook

Joubert JJ (ed) Criminal Procedure Handbook 10th ed (Juta Cape Town 2011)

Kassan "First Baseline Study"

Kassan D "First Baseline Study Monitoring the Current Practice of the Criminal Justice System in Relation to Children" in Gallinetti J, Kassan D and Ehlers L Child Justice in South Africa: Children’s Rights under Construction (Open Society Foundation for South Africa Bellville 2006) 85-99

Kriegler and Kruger Hiemstra: Suid-Afrikaanse Strafproses

Kriegler J and Kruger A Hiemstra: Suid-Afrikaanse Strafproses 6th ed (LexisNexis Butterworths 2002)

Kruger Hiemstra’s Criminal Procedure

Kruger A Hiemstra’s Criminal Procedure (LexisNexis Durban 2008 (Service 4 2011))

Makiwane 2010 Obiter

Makiwane PN "Victim-impact Statements at the Sentencing Stage: Giving Crime Victims a Voice" 2010 Obiter 606-618

McCoy and McManimon "Victim Satisfaction with Sentences"

McCoy C and McManimon Jr PJ "Harsher is not Necessarily Better: Victim Satisfaction with Sentences Imposed under a ‘Truth in Sentencing’ Law" in Tata C and Hutton N Sentencing and Society: International Perspectives (Ashgate Aldershot 2002) 197-216

Meintjes-van der Walt 1998-1999 Tilburg Foreign L Rev

Meintjes-van der Walt L "The Rights of Victims of Violent Crimes in South Africa: Emergent or Forgotten?" 1998-1999 Tilburg Foreign L Rev 141-160

Moolman 1997 SACJ

Moolman CJ "Victim Rights in Anglo-American and Continental European Countries: What can South Africa Learn?" 1997 SACJ 273-282

Müller and Van der Merwe 2006 SAJHR

Müller K and Van der Merwe A "Recognising the Victim in the Sentencing Phase: The Use of Victim Impact Statements in Court" 2006 SAJHR 647-663

Rhodes University Oxford South African Concise Dictionary

Rhodes University. Dictionary Unit for South African English Oxford South African Concise Dictionary 2nd ed (Oxford University Press Cape Town 2010)

Pemberton 2009 Acta Criminologica

Pemberton A "Victim Movements: From Diversified Needs to Varying Criminal Justice Agendas" 2009 Acta Criminologica 1-23

Prinsloo 2005 Acta Criminologica

Prinsloo J "Young Offenders and Presentencing Reports: A Criminological Perspective" 2005 Acta Criminologica 1-19

SALRC Juvenile Justice

South African Law Reform Commission Juvenile Justice: Discussion Paper 79, Project 106 (SALRC Pretoria 1999)

SALRC Restorative Justice

South African Law Reform Commission Sentencing: Restorative Justice: Issue Paper 7, Project 82 (SALRC Pretoria 1997)

Skelton "Decade of Case Law"

Skelton A "A Decade of Case Law in Child Justice" in Gallinetti J, Kassan D and Ehlers L Child Justice in South Africa: Children’s Rights under Construction (Open Society Foundation for South Africa Bellville 2006) 65-76

Skelton and Tshehla Child Justice

Skelton A and Tshehla B Child Justice in South Africa (Institute for Security Studies Pretoria 2008)

Sloth-Nielsen "Short History of Time"

Sloth-Nielsen "’A Short History of Time’: Charting the Contribution of Social Development Service Delivery to Enhance Child Justice 1996-2006" in Gallinetti J, Kassan D and Ehlers L Child Justice in South Africa: Children’s Rights under Construction (Open Society Foundation for South Africa Bellville 2006) 17-27

Snyman 1995 Acta Criminologica

Snyman HF "The Victim Impact Statement as a Means of Addressing the Victim’s Needs for Rights" 1995 Acta Criminologica 30-34

Terblanche Guide to Sentencing

Terblanche SS A Guide to Sentencing in South Africa 2nd ed (LexisNexis Butterworths Durban 2007)

Terblanche Research on the Sentencing Framework Bill

Terblanche SS Research on the Sentencing Framework Bill (Open Society Foundation Claremont 2008)

Terblanche 2012 PELJ

Terblanche SS "The Child Justice Act: A Detailed Consideration of Section 68 as Point of Departure with Respect to the Sentencing of Young Offenders" 2012 PELJ 435-475

Tladi "Child Justice Legislation"

Tladi R "A Reflection on Child Justice Legislation, Policy and Practice" in Gallinetti J, Kassan D and Ehlers L Child Justice in South Africa: Children’s Rights under Construction (Open Society Foundation for South Africa Bellville 2006) 29-35

Van der Merwe 2007-2008 T Jefferson L Rev

Van der Merwe A "Addressing Victims’ Harm: The Role of Impact Reports" 2007-2008 T Jefferson L Rev 391-406

Register of cases

Centre for Child Law v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development 2009 2 SACR 477 (CC)

Commissioner for Inland Revenue v Friedman 1993 1 SA 353 (A)

Gilbert v Bekker 1984 3 SA 774 (W)

Natal Law Society v N 1985 4 SA 115 (N)

Receiver of Revenue, Port Elizabeth v Jeeva 1996 2 SA 573 (A)

Rondel v W 1966 1 All ER 467 (QB)

S v Alam 2011 2 SACR 533 (WCC)

S v Cloete 2003 2 SACR 490 (O)

S v CS 2012 1 SACR 595 (ECP)

S v Dodo 2001 1 SACR 594 (CC)

S v Dzukuda 2000 2 SACR 443 (CC)

S v Fortuin [2011] ZANCHC 28 (11 Nov 2011)

S v Gagu 2006 1 SACR 547 (SCA)

S v Govender 1995 2 SACR 458 (N)

S v Khambule 1991 2 SACR 277 (W)

S v Khuzwayo [2012] ZAGPJHC 113 (31 May 2012)

S v Kwalase 2000 2 SACR 135 (C)

S v Lewis 1986 2 PH H96 (A)

S v Maake 2011 1 SACR 263 (SCA)

S v Manka 2003 2 SACR 515 (O)

S v Martin 1996 2 SACR 378 (W)

S v Nakedi [2012] ZANWHC 5 (2 Jan 2012)

S v Ndaba 1993 1 SACR 637 (A)

S v Njikaza 2002 2 SACR 481 (C)

S v Peterson 2001 1 SACR 16 (SCA)

S v Phulwane 2003 1 SACR 631 (T)

S v R 1993 1 SACR 209 (A)

S v RO 2010 2 SACR 248 (SCA)

S v RS 2012 2 SACR 160 (WCC)

S v Ruiter [2011] ZAWCHC 265 (14 Jun 2011)

S v Sekoere [2012] ZAFSHC 114 (14 Jun 2012)

S v Slabbert 1998 1 SACR 646 (SCA)

S v Stanley 1996 2 SACR 570 (A)

S v Van der Westhuizen 1995 1 SACR 601 (A)

S v Xaba 2011 1 SACR 1 (KZP)

S v Z 2004 1 SACR 400 (ECD)

Sibiya v Director of Public Prosecutions, Johannesburg 2006 1 SACR 220 (CC)

Society of Advocates of SA (Witwatersrand Division) v Fischer 1966 1 SA 133 (T)

Weiner v Broekhuysen 2001 2 SA 716 (C)

Register of legislation

Child Justice Act 75 of 2008

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996

Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977

Probation Services Act 116 of 1991

Social Assistance Act 13 of 2004

Supreme Court Act 59 of 1959

Register of government publications

Minister of Police National Instruction 2 of 2010

Minister of Police National Instruction 2 of 2010: Children in Conflict with the Law: For General Information (GN 759 in GG 33508 of 2 September 2010)

NDPP Directives

National Director of Public Prosecutions Directives in terms of section 97(4) of the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 (GN R252 in GG 33067 of 31 March 2010)

Regulations under the Probation Services Act

Regulations under the Probation Services Act 116 of 1991 (GN 1364 in GG 15895 of 5 August 1994, as amended by GN R66 in GG 34983 of 3 February 2012)

Uniform Rules of Court

Uniform Rules of Court to the Supreme Court Act 59 of 1959 (originally published under GN R48 of 12 January 1965)

Register of international agreements

Beijing Rules

United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (29 November 1985) General Assembly Resolution 40/33

Register of internet sources

Victim’s Charter

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development 2004 The Service Charter for Victims of Crime in South Africa http://bit.ly/ZAEEHC [date of use 8 Aug 2012]

Published

26-04-2017

How to Cite

Terblanche, S. S. (2017). The Child Justice Act: Procedural Sentencing Issues. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 16(1), 320–350. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2013/v16i1a2314

Issue

Section

Articles