Child Justice Downloads

This page brings together the reference material on child justice in South Africa that our articles draw on: explanatory fact sheets, discussions of what the system costs to run, conference material and the submissions made while the legislation was debated.

Child justice is a field where the detail matters. Questions such as the minimum age of criminal capacity, when a child may be detained, how diversion works and who assesses a child after arrest are settled in the text of the law and in the regulations and guidance that follow it. The documents linked below explain those questions in plain terms and show how the arguments developed.

The material is published here for readers who need more than a summary: students, practitioners, journalists and parents trying to understand what happens when a child is accused of an offence.