Juvenile offenders

Published November 23, 2017

THE juvenile justice system should not just be about punishing crime; it should also concentrate on rehabilitating young offenders.

This was the message put forth by singer Shehzad Roy — who is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime — while visiting detained juveniles at Karachi’s Youth Offenders Industrial School on Tuesday.

Stressing the importance of rehabilitation for juvenile detainees, Mr Roy paid bail for six offenders who could not afford the amount.

While Mr Roy’s noble gesture has given these young men a new lease of life, it has also exposed the state’s disregard for the all-important notions of juvenile justice.

Despite the watertight provisions of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, young offenders often face the same punishments meted out to adult offenders because of the fundamental weaknesses in the juvenile justice system.

These include inadequate legislative protections, scant birth-registration mechanisms (that prove age) and the absence of age-determination protocols (when juvenile cases are presented in court).

Alarmingly, lax implementation of the law has resulted in the state sanctioning the execution of at least six juveniles.

Even the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its 2016 remarks on Pakistan’s fifth periodic report was “seriously alarmed at the reports of execution of several individuals for offences committed while under the age of 18 years”.

More disturbingly, the Anti-Terrorism Act has the powers to override the JJSO when the matter relates to a terrorism-related crime.

Although the JJSO prohibits the preventive detention of children below 15, under the ATA security forces can apprehend, detain and try juveniles in anti-terrorism courts.

The state is reminded that there are different processes to deal with juvenile and adult offenders, and that the absence of special juvenile courts is a travesty of justice.

Only civilised societies recognise that reforming young offenders will benefit not only them but also communities by making them safe from crime.

Lengthy prison terms only generate persistent offenders.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2017

Opinion

Editorial

IHK resolution
Updated 08 Nov, 2024

IHK resolution

If the BJP administration were to listen to Kashmiris, it could pave the way for the resumption of the political process in IHK.
Climate realities
08 Nov, 2024

Climate realities

THE Air Quality Index in Lahore once again shot past the 1,000-level mark on Wednesday morning, registering at an...
Rule by fear
08 Nov, 2024

Rule by fear

THE abduction of an opposition MNA, as claimed by PTI, is yet another grim episode in Pakistan’s ongoing crisis of...
Trump 2.0
Updated 07 Nov, 2024

Trump 2.0

It remains to be seen how his promises to bring ‘peace’ to Middle East reconcile with his blatantly pro-Israel bias.
Fait accompli
07 Nov, 2024

Fait accompli

A SLEW of secretively conceived and hastily enacted legislation has achieved its intended result: the powers of the...
IPP contracts
07 Nov, 2024

IPP contracts

THE government expects the ongoing ‘negotiations’ with power producers aimed at revising the terms of sovereign...