JUVENILES under 10 years are set to enjoy court and jail
immunity as Zimbabwe reviews the age of criminal responsibility and afford more
rights to minors.
The country’s age of criminal responsibility is currently
pegged at seven, a situation that has seen children from that age being hauled
before the courts or sent to young offenders’ prisons for various crimes.
However, Government argues that children acquire
intelligence or maturity at different stages, hence the need to set the
baseline at 10 years. The Sunday Mail understands that Government has already
began consultations on the age of criminal responsibility under a broad
framework of the Child Justice Bill.
The Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
permanent secretary, Mrs Virginia Mabhiza said Cabinet has approved principles
of the Bill, which include a review of the age of criminal responsibly.
“Cabinet approved principles stipulating 10 years as the
minimum age of criminal responsibility,” she said.
“The previous position in terms of Section 7 of Criminal
Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23), stipulating rebuttable
culpability, would have seen a child as young as seven years facing the formal
justice system.”
Mrs Mabhiza said the current position on the age of
criminal responsibility is extreme and a remnant of the common law assimilated
from the former colonial system.
She said the review was in line with the alignment of laws
to the new Constitution and the current political administration’s aim to
promote and protect the freedoms and rights of citizens, including children.
“Our community has reached a stage where we understand that
our children are intelligent and mature at different stages,” said the
permanent secretary.
“As such, the baseline that we have determined as
appropriate to confer criminal responsibility comes from this understating,”
she said.
Mrs Mabhiza said processes to get input from various
stakeholders has already been set in motion so that the Child Justice Bill can
be fine-tuned.
“Consultations have already begun with officials having
visited areas such as Bulawayo, Beitbridge, Hwange, Gutu, Gweru Marange-Mutare
and Murehwa,” she said.
“The consultations are open to all, we are inviting
stakeholders to join and contribute to the content of this Bill, which is a
milestone in the history of our nation,” said Mrs Mabhiza.
Mrs Mabhiza said Government has been enforcing a separate
justice system for juvenile offenders through its Pre-Trial Diversion
programme.
She said the programme operates outside the legislative
framework by diverting child offenders from the formal justice system. The
children are put into a special system that caters for their special needs.
Legal expert Mr Clever Mandizvidza said the review in the
age of criminal responsibility is upon the realisation that a child as young as
seven would not have developed mentally, hence cannot be responsible for any
criminal offence.
According to United Nations Convention on Children’s
Rights, Member States are recommended not to fix the age of criminal
responsibility for juveniles at a low age, bearing in mind issues to do with
emotional, mental and intellectual maturity. Sunday Mail
0 comments:
Post a Comment