May 2011 : The Child Justice Alliance is currently busy doing research on the criminal capacity provisions in the Child Justice Act. As part of this investigation, the Alliance held a workshop with experts and professionals in the area of criminal capacity at the University of Pretoria on 4 May 2011. This workshop reported can be downloaded here. Please watch this space for a publication on criminal capacity coming soon. .

May 2011 : The first issue of the 2011 Article 40 is available for download. It focusses specifically on the one year implementation of the Child Justice Act.

May 2011 :Clare Ballard wrote an opinion piece entitled:"Terre’Blanche murder accused tests Child Justice Act" in the Mail and Guardian, May 13 to 19, 2011.

April 2010:Lorenzo Wakefield wrote an Opinion Editorial entitled:" Child Justice Act faces stern first test in the TerreBlanche case" in the Business Day, 9 April 2010.

April 2010: Upon the date of commencement of the Child Justice Act on 1 April 2010, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development published the regulations to the Act (parts 1 and 2), as well as the notice stipulating which persons are competent to conduct an evaluation on a 10 - 14 year old to assess whether the child possessed criminal capacity. The National Director of Public Prosecutions also published the NPA Directives in terms of the Child Justice Act. The Regulations are available here, as well as the NPA Directives.

1 April 2010: The Implementation of the Child Justice Act has taken place on 1 April 2010. To mark this ocassion, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr JT Radebe, MP will be hosting a function at the Walter Sisulu Child and Youth Care Centre in Noordgesig. For more details of this event, contact Ms Atlegang Hanson on (012) 357 8083 or Ms Itumeleng Morakile on (012) 315 1718.

8 September 2009: Get to know everything about the Child Justice Act by downloading a new publication on it.
Want to monitor the application of the Child Justice Act when it comes into operation in April 2010? Download the Child Justice Act Monitoring Implementation Tool (CJAMIT)

15 July 2009: The Constitutional Court handed down a judgment declaring minimum sentences invalid for 16 and 17 year olds. The majority of the Constitutional Court found that the minimum sentencing regime limits the discretion of sentencing officers by orienting them away from non-custodial options; by interfering with the individualisation of sentences and by giving rise to longer prison sentences. This breaches the young offenders’ rights in terms of section 28(1)(g) of the Constitution, and the Court found that no adequate justification had been provided for the limitation." A full copy of the case can be accessed.

Conference in October 2009:All those who work in the area of managing and treating offenders and survivors of abuse, as well as those working towards the prevention of crime and the protection of children, are invited to attend the Victorian Offender Treatment Association (VOTA) Conference on 28-30 October 2009 at the Sebel, Albert Park, Melbourne. Download the registration form.

May 2009: The Child Justice Bill was signed by the President and published in Government Gazette Number 32225 on 11 May 2009. The Bill is now known as the Child Justice Act, No 75 of 2008 and is available for download here

Report on the Diversion Workshop held with Diversion Service Providers and Government Officials at Burger’s Park Hotel, Pretoria on 1st & 2nd December 2008

19 November 2008: The Child Justice Bill is passed by the National Assembly at its second reading. Download the Bill.

Find out about the Centre for Child Law's submission on the NCOP amendments, October 2008

5 September: The Security & Constitutional Affairs Select Committee adopted the Child Justice Bill

25 June 2008: The National Assembly has passed the Child Justice Bill! Download the NA's version of the Bill. The Bill still has to go to the NCOP, and then back to the National Assembly. It is expected that the Bill will be passed by the end of the year.

23 June 2008: The final Committee Report on the Child Justice Bill is available.

May 2008: Detailed reports of the current deliberations on the Child Justice Bill that have been held in the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development thus far are available here. These reports are used with permission from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group.

February 2008:Download the various written submissions on the latest version of the Child Justice Bill and keep abreast of the issues raised in this Cabinet version. The public hearings will be taking place on Tuesday, 5th February, in the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development where these submissions will be presented to the members of parliament.

January 2008:The latest version (Cabinet version) of the Child Justice Bill [B49-2002] is now available. Written submissions on this latest verion is due on Wednesday, 30 January 2008. Public hearings will be held on Tuesday, 5 February 2008. Read the Press Release, issued by the Chairperson of the Justice & Constitutional Development Portfolio Committee (Please ignore the dates in the formal press release. Dates to act on - written submissions: 30 January 2008 & Public Hearings: 5 February 2008. Please contact Jacqui Gallinetti should you require clarity.)

A debate on Young Offenders was held on SAfm's After Eight Debate on 14 February 2007. Dr Ann Skelton, Co-ordinator of the Child Litigation Project for the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria and Dr Don Pinnock , a criminologist and journalist were part of the debate. Download this radio debate, used with permission from SABC, who retains copyright and all other rights to this material. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of the SABC.

The Child Justice Alliance, in conjunction with the Open Society Foundation of South Africa, has published the Conference Report, Child Justice in South Africa: Children's Rights Under Construction soon. This publication encapsulates the range of discussion and debates that occurred during the conference that had taken place in August 2006. The keynote speaker was Professor Jaap Doek, Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Article 40, a lay journal, has been in existance since 1999. Many of the articles deal with the Child Justice Bill, as well as general child justice issues. Download the various issues of this journal.

Detailed reports of the briefings, public hearings and deliberations that have been held in the Parliamentary Committee thus far are available here. These reports are used with permission from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group.

Download Fact Sheets on important issues surrounding the Child Justice Bill. These include:

- Why do we need the Child Justice Bill?
- What are the issues around the Age of the Child?
- What does the Child Justice Bill expect of the Police?
- What about Child Sex Offenders?
- What is Restorative Justice? Will it work in South Africa?
And so much more ...

The Child Justice Alliance is a network of NGOs, CBOs, academic institutions and individuals working to ensure that the Child Justice Bill is passed by the South African parliament. Apart from a common interest in the welfare and rights of children, these people and organisations share a common vision... [more]