Children in Jail

To many, the notion of locking-up children in jail is shocking and abhorrent. Others have lived with this situation for many years and may have learned to consider it normal practice. Many nations that have now developed alternative practices incarcerated children as a matter of course until quite recently. Some which have enacted more progressive juvenile justice legislation have yet to implement their own laws and are still locking up children illegally.

It is estimated that upward of 1 million children remain behind bars throughout the world today.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted as international law by the United Nations in 1989 and came into force in 1990 after ratification by the required number of nations. There are currently 193 parties to the Convention. These include almost all of the member states of the UN with the exception of the United States and Somalia.

The convention sets out principles to be upheld in order to ensure the safety, normal freedoms, development and protection of children. Article 37 makes clear and unambiguous statements about the treatment of a child who is in conflict with the law. Further provisions are contained in Article 40.

Children are still held in:

Police detention cells

These can often be over-crowded, unsanitory and may not be segregated. Pressure on the judicial system can lead to prolonged incarceration. In some countries local police may be ignorant of the laws governing this kind of detention.

Pre-trial holding facilities

Conditions and the treatment of the children vary enormously and can be very hard. Staff may not be appropriately selected or trained and the emphasis is more likely to be on containment than care.

Juvenile detention centres

Such facilities may accomodate children in cells, be run by the prison service and staffed by uniformed guards. There may be little or no attention to rehabilitation.The only difference from a jail is sometimes the absence of adult prisoners.

Jails where adults are held

In some countries children may still be in jail with adults. Even if they are not in the same cells they may be on the same compound and subject to their influence.

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•  Good Law – Poor Implementation

Download a short article on Children in Conflict with the Law in the Philippines.
Download pdf file or View as a web page.

•  LIFE AND SALVATION "IN THE BOX"
     By: Father Shay Cullen

Read this powerful article on the role of therapeutic drama in the healing process for boys rescued from jail by PREDA.