Overview


Juvenile justice is the area of criminal law applicable to persons who at the time of commission of an offense have not attained the age of 18 years. The main goal of a juvenile justice system is rehabilitation rather than punishment for juvenile criminal behavior: to avoid the stigmatization resulting from a criminal conviction and the phenomenon of reoffending.

 

It is not possible to know the exact number of prisoners, including children, in jails at any given time simply because the number changes daily as some prisoners are released and new ones are brought in. However, as of December 2019, there were 1,424 juveniles in Pakistan’s jails. Only 214 of these are convicted and the remaining 1210 children were still under trial.
   
While in prison, the juvenile inmates in prisons face problems such as overcrowding, malnutrition, physical, abuse in some cases, and a lack of proper medical care and recreation. The prudence behind a juvenile justice system is reformation exclusively. Any child when he or she comes into conflict with the law should be treated as such.


Approaches and Strategies


Despite the children’s rights set out in the UNCRC, other international human rights standards as well as national laws especially the federally applicable Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, numerous children suffer and the juvenile justice system of Pakistan is still in need of further improvement and reform.


Recommendations

 

The federal and provincial governments need to establish and implement an effective age determination mechanism, using various modern scientific and technological tools.

 

The juvenile offenders’ databases of police records at the provincial and district levels need to be strengthened and computerized (electronic vs. paper logbooks or registers), updated and disaggregated by age, sex, offence, sentence, and geographic origin of the children, along with the type of detention facility in which they are detained.

 

Review and revise the Pakistan Prison Rules, in light of the provisions of the JJSA 2018.

 

Establish separate new exclusive Juvenile Courts (strengthening where they do exist), with trained judges, prosecutors, investigation officers, probation officers, medico-legal officers (MLOs), psychologists and child rights experts.

 

The Government of Balochistan needs to establish its first JRC at the earliest, followed by one in each district, in a phased manner.

 

The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa needs to transform the Bannu and Haripur Borstal Institutions into model JRCs; and next to establish a JRC in each district.

 

All relevant laws including the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997, the Control of Narcotics Substances 1997 and the Hudood Ordinances 1975 should be amended.

 

 

 

 
   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
© 2019 SPARC - Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child