adminTheir argument was that while the normal criminal justice system is inclined towards punishment and reparation, it held little hope for the juvenile offender whose delinquent exploits could need rehabilitation to divert them from an almost certain route of criminality into adulthood.
Back in 2011 President Mugabe announced the introduction of a new criminal justice system when he opened Parliament. We pointed out on these pages, back then, the merits of such a system.
Today we applaud moves to concretise that initiative following a statement by Attorney-General Johannes Tomana last week that Government was making provisions to channel cases involving juveniles from the formal justice system to extra-judicial programmes as a way of protecting minors.
The launch of the Zimbabwe Pre-Trial Diversion Programme for juvenile offenders is a culmination of years of research, debate and lobbying to rescue juveniles who, it was felt, were unnecessarily prosecuted and jailed.
“The target group of the programme is young persons under the age of 21 who have been arrested for offences not considered serious, and which would ordinarily attract a sentence of 12 months or less within the formal criminal justice system.
“Serious offenders would not be eligible. Depending on the nature of their previous convictions, offenders who re-offend could also benefit in some instances,” Mr Tomana said.
The major concern over the formal justice system has always been its retributive nature and the exposure to hardened criminals that it gives to juvenile offenders.
We are told the pilot Pre-Trial Diversion Programme would cover Harare, Bulawayo and Gweru.
The aim of the programme was to make offenders responsible and accountable for their actions and provide an opportunity for reparation while it also sought to identify factors that led to delinquency and hence address these to prevent offenders from having criminal records and being labelled criminals.
The pre-trial diversion could set in before arrest, or before a matter goes to court, or is set down for trial all in a bid to find a non-court route of supporting a juvenile and helping them take responsibility for their actions through dissuading them from anti-social behaviour and addressing other social, family and community factors that were contributing to their behaviour.
The rapid influx of hormones in adolescence has led many young people into varied and unfortunate experiments that in some instances have crossed the line into illegality and it is such victims of circumstances that the system would seek to give the benefit of the doubt, and give another lease of a life untainted by the stigma of a criminal record.
There is need to strike a balance between protecting society from criminals on one hand and also considering the well-being and potential for reformation of the young offender on the other.
We learn that the programme will be limited to the selected major towns in its pilot stage.
Meanwhile, in areas that are yet to be reached by the new diversion programme there is still a lot that can be done to take care of the interests of the juveniles under the current system.
Juvenile offenders are committed to reformatory institutions or probation officers inquire into their backgrounds and social circumstances, touching even on parenting skills of their families and a report from such inquiry is handed over to the magistrate to help him make a proper decision in terms of sentence.
However, there have been murmurs from some quarters that the probation officers’ reports were treated as nothing more than a statutory requirement that some judicial officers paid no attention to at all.
However, recommendations from social workers usually favour rehabilitation of the offender than incarceration, except in a few cases where the officers shirk their responsibility of monitoring and writing progress reports and then decide to recommend the imprisonment of a juvenile as a way of reducing paper work on their part.
The involvement of social workers does not in any way, however, take away the role that parents have to play in complementing the experts and working towards rehabilitating their child, and where they may need to adjust their own behaviour, they should do that instead of just focusing on the offender who could be a victim viewed from another angle if a holistic approach is taken.
It is our view that the new system, that is already in use in South Africa among other countries, is a step in the right direction especially as it pertains nipping in the bud a trend where a whole generation could be lost to crime if offenders are not given a second chance.
However, this route should never be open to those that commit serious crime as stiff penalties should still serve as a deterrent to those who choose a life of crime, with their chance to reform awaiting them in prison where they could gain life skills.
Online Reporter