South Africa's Heart of Darkness: Sex crimes and child offenders: some trends

Abstract

It is a source of great concern that the number of sexual offences committed by children is apparently on the increase. Given that the Child Justice Bill provides for a separate criminal justice process for children, and stricter provisions for child sex offenders, this article explores some of the relevant trends in this regard. The management of child sex offenders appears inconsistent, and very often no appropriate intervention is made at all. Calculating the actual incidence of child sex offenders is difficult, but some data suggests that children might be responsible for a significant proportion of sexual crimes committed against other children.