download Re-Costing the Child Justice Bill | download the PDF | download Adobe Acrobat

Part of the extensive research and development that went into the drafting of the Child Justice Bill included a costing study. This costing study was undertaken by Afrec, and independent economic research group based at the University of Cape Town.

Due to the fragmented nature of the current child justice system, the cost per child as they went through the judicial process was based on a breakdown of the current spending and budgets of each relevant government department. These figures allowed the researchers to estimate the costs of implementing the Bill at various stages. Included in the study are indicators of current spending ("baseline"), a "roll out" phase and the costs once the Bill has been fully implemented.

This costing exercise is unique in the history of drafting South African legislation, and serves to highlight the financial benefits of ratifying and implementing the Child Justice Bill. The two documents below, which can be downloaded free of charge, provide ample detail on the costs of processing children at various stages during the judicial process, and is further broken down into various categories, such as by department, Province, etc.

We are grateful to the United Nations Development Project's Child Justice Project and Afrec for providing this document. Should you have any questions regarding the content please contact Ann Skelton at the UNDP Child Justice Project, (012) 315 1204/5.