Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday said twelve juvenile offenders had been rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society. All twelve were suspects in cases filed with the Juvenile Justice Unit in the first six months of this year.
A statistical report released by the Juvenile Justice Unit shows that cases involving 167 juveniles offenders were filed during the first six months of 2016. Of the 167, 120 were first time offenders while 47 were repeat offenders.
A majority of the cases involved drug abuse and gang violence, and offenders were mainly children who did not attend school. According to the report, 75 of them did not attend any school. Most of the offenders have do not attend to schools or hold a job.
The main cause for juveniles to have conflicts with the law include family issues, criminal offenders being parents, being raised near criminal offenders such as family members and the child being a victim of sexual, physical and psychological abuse. Juvenile Justice Unit uses restorative justice approach as a basis which emphasizes on repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behaviour.
There is a vast difference between traditional justice system and restorative justice. Traditional Criminal Juvenile Justice focuses on the offence, violation of the law, punishment and retribution. The child offender plays a passive role and the victim is ignored. Detention and institutionalization is overused.
Restorative Juvenile Justice on the other hand focuses on the victim, the consequences of the offence, reparation of the harms, reintegration of the juvenile offender and prevention of re-offending.
Home Minister said these programme to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders back into society has been a success and it is decreasing the number of juvenile offenders and repeat offenders.