On 24 July, about 60 people attended a forum held at The Durban City Hall in Kwa Zulu Natal, to hear a debate on whether restorative justice*, diversion* and rehabilitation programmes for young offenders are more effective in reducing crime than sending young people to prison.
Organised by YMCAs in Kwa Zulu Natal, in collaboration with other organisations working on youth justice and crime, the event involved plenty of debate and discussion, largely led by young people. Young ex-offenders were able to share their stories with the audience and there were presentations from the Department of Social Services and Lawyers for Justice.
"It is a great joy to experience the passion with which young people are approaching the Youth Justice in Action campaign", said Tracy from Student YMCA. "The more we invite young people to explore issues of diversion and its role in crime prevention the more we are able see commitment from our volunteers to lobby for this cause."
A young person from South African YMCA in Kwa Zulu Natal, who had recently visited the UK for the Rough Justice for Young People event in London, introduced the forum. He said, "Young people in South Africa still face problems with the juvenile justice system, even though we have constitutional rights to be protected by the government. I was once arrested and kept in prison for no reason. I suffered a lot of abuse because I was imprisoned with adults and hardened criminals. I was taken to court but the case was withdrawn because there was no evidence against me. There are thousands of other young people like me."
*The Child Justice Bill is a piece of legislation which aims to protect the rights of children.
*Restorative justice is a process in which the victim, the offender and/or family or community members affected by a crime work together to resolve matters. The process must be voluntary and can only take place if the young person has admitted his/her guilt.
*Diversion means finding alternative measures to deal with young offenders to avoid them entering the criminal justice system.
Funded by the European Commission
